Who? FAO Viet Nam Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) and Department of Livestock Production within the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (DLP-MARD)

What (happened)? National Dissemination Workshop for good hatchery practices and biosecurity training manual and handbook

Where? Hanoi, Viet Nam

When? December 18^th, 2015

Why? To roll out the new training manual and handbook on hatchery good practices and biosecurity and to introduce the Hatchery Training Experts.

How? With the financial support from the World Poultry Foundation (WPF)

Since the H5N1 HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza) outbreak started in 2003, poor biosecurity in poultry farms has been recognized as one of the factors that contributes to the risk for disease introduction, and spread, as well as threatening food safety along poultry value chains in Viet Nam. Although big industrial farms follow biosecurity guidelines, small and medium scale hatcheries and parent flock farms, which comprise a significant part of the Vietnamese poultry production system, lack standards and practical guidance for implementation at farm level. 

Therefore, after piloting simple, practical and feasible biosecurity standards within 12 hatcheries and parent flock farms, DLP and FAO created biosecurity guidelines as a part of a USAID funded project. Following on from this work, and through the support from World Poultry Foundation (WPF), FAO Viet Nam and DLP, developed a training manual, handbook, as well as trained experts on good hatchery practices and biosecurity. The training manual and handbook were developed based on the lessons learned from the pilot farms and it includes frequently asked questions and answers for farmers. Training materials, behavior change stickers, and an introductory leaflet featuring the hatchery training experts were also provided at the workshop. Hatchery training experts were chosen through a rigorous training and evaluation process by FAO and DLP and they will introduce and promote good practices to farmers, serve as technical mentors and continuously communicate with farmers to support production. 

Participants of the national dissemination workshop include key industry partners, government departments, research centers, universities, training centers, and development agencies. To feature elements of the training manual, displays and posters on good hatchery practices were installed at the venue with hatchery training experts standing near each poster to help explain the key technical points to workshop participants.

“Today we introduce our biosecurity training manual and it is also a day to celebrate the successful collaboration between DLP and FAO on improving poultry farm biosecurity within Viet Nam. With our newly developed training manual and hatchery training experts, we expect the manual to be rolled out to a broader group of small and medium sized hatchery owners, ultimately offering a more sustainable solution to poultry production in Viet Nam“ stated Dr. Scott Newman, the Senior Technical Coordinator of FAO ECTAD Viet Nam.