Title: Production without medicalisation: a pilot intervention in global protein production
Funder: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Abstract: Global stewardship of existing antibiotics within livestock systems is a key component of any attempt to manage the incidence and transmission of emergent and resistant bacteria, resistance conferring genes and mobile elements. Yet, global demand for animal derived protein is fuelling investment in and intensification of livestock systems with resulting increases in use of veterinary medicines. These systems have until now relied on medicinal and other inputs as infrastructure that permits increased stocking densities and livestock throughput, while reducing morbidity and mortality. In this sense, antibiotics have become a key component of livestock agriculture. Decoupling agriculture from the risks of generating greater antimicrobial resistance is a key challenge addressed in this project. This project focuses on the growing and under-regulated aquaculture (fish and shell fish production) sector within Asia, which is intensifying to meet domestic demand for animal derived protein and worldwide export markets. We aim to to assess the growing use of antibiotics within this important sector of global food production, and experiment with farm based medicine stewardship strategies that promote sustainable and appropriate use. The project has implications for food security, food safety, human and environmental (aquatic) health as well as the livelihoods of millions of people. The rapidly growing and intensifying global aquaculture industry (the so-called blue revolution) is known to be a major user of antimicrobials and a key gateway for antimicrobial resistance. Reducing or preventing the escalation of non-therapeutic and unnecessary uses of antibiotics requires social innovations that address path dependencies and the socio-economics of livestock production. Detailed knowledge on the uses and socio-economic drivers of antimicrobial inputs in aquaculture is required in order to 1. Minimise the potential risks of aquaculture expansion for human and environmental health. 2. Develop strategies that allow for the prudent use of compounds, particularly where they increase risks of the emergence and transmission of antimicrobial resistance. In this pump-priming project we seek to investigate variability in use of antibiotics and AMR-related inputs within aquaculture, and devise a strategy that encourages appropriate and alternative animal health treatments. We focus on the effective stewardship of antibiotics within the rapidly growing, poorly regulated and heterogeneous shrimp and prawn sectors in Bangladesh. The project involves development of a partnership between UK and Bangladeshi expertise, and involves social scientists, biologists, aquaculture and rural development experts in order to understand the drivers of antibiotic uses and to cooperatively develop with farmers interventions for developing more appropriate treatments and disease abatement strategies. The project will survey shrimp and prawn farmers and hatcheries to develop clear understanding of the relationship between farm inputs, farm sizes and value chain characteristics. This information will be augmented with more detailed interview data with farmers, farm suppliers (those who sell antibiotics and other inputs), market intermediaries, depots and other key actors. The resulting knowledge on the disease as well as socio-economic pressures that farmers face will be used to develop a series of workshops in which farmers will work together to devise a social and technical specification for a farm-based intervention that allows for more sustainable and appropriate development of aquaculture. Once co-developed in the form of an in-principle design, the step-wise approach to design as well as the design itself will be used to seed further funding and impact across the fish and livestock sectors.


Research activity codes: 3.3 NUTRITION AND CHEMOPREVENTION;3.4 VACCINES
Health categories: INFECTION