Farmers and global sanitary risks management: Vietnamese farmers and avian flu

• Main Authors: Figuié, Muriel, Desvaux, Stephanie
• Other Authors: Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier (CIHEAM-IAMM), Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes (CIHEAM)-Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes (CIHEAM)-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro), Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)
• Format: Report
• Language: French
• Published: HAL CCSD 2011
• Subjects: RISK; GRIPPE AVIAIRE; AVIAN FLU; FARMER; [SHS]Humanities and Social Sciences; Avian flu
• Online Access: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02805651; https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02805651/document; https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02805651/file/48289_20110713044645977_1.pdf

This paper documents the logics underpinning Vietnamese farmers' management practices of an emerging disease, the avian flu (H5N1). In the area of our survey, one the front line of the fight against H5N1 according to international organizations (WHO, OIE, FAO), farmers and their poultry are supposed to be highly impacted by the epizootic caused by the virus. Moreover, farmers are called upon to collaborate to the global fight against the virus before it mutates in a pandemic virus. Our study shows that direct (poultry mortality) and indirect impacts (consequence of the measures imposed by the government to contain the virus, fluctuation of consumers' demand,.) show to be relatively limited when compared to the permanent state of instability which characterizes the context of poultry production in the surveyed village. This instability is mainly related to numerous and regular poultry infectious diseases and market instability. If international community considers H5N1 as a zoonotic risk and a pandemic threat which asks for emergency tools, H5N1 is framed by the farmers of our study as an epizootic problem manageable through routinized measures. These measures aim at minimizing the economic impact of the disease rather than preventing poultry from the disease. Consequently, local management of the disease cannot fit with the precautionary approach promoted by the international community. Cet article analyse la logique de gestion d'une émergence sanitaire, la grippe aviaire (H5N1) dans l'espace confiné d'une communauté d'éleveurs vietnamiens, et la confronte à celle de l'espace public des organisations internationales (OMS, OIE, FAO,.). La zone d'étude appartient à ce que les organisations internationales considèrent comme la ligne de front de la lutte internationale contre la grippe aviaire. Les éleveurs, à travers leurs volailles, y sont considérés comme d'importantes victimes de l'épizootie provoquée par le virus. Ils sont en outre très largement sollicités pour participer à la lutte contre le virus, afin ...