The trade-off between farmers' autonomy and the control of parasitic gastro-intestinal nématodes of sheep in conventional and organic farms

Jacques Cabaret (1) , Caroline Chylinski , Salah Meradi (2) , Gabriel Laignel (3) , Christian Nicourt (4) , Bourhane Bentounsi (5) , Gérard Benoit (3)

1 UMR ISP - Infectiologie et Santé Publique
2 Biological sciences
3 UMRH - Unité Mixte de Recherche sur les Herbivores - UMR 1213
4 RiTME - Risques, Travail, Marchés, Etat
5 Veterinary Parasitology

Farmers value autonomy in the management of their farm..Amongst organic farmers especially,auton- omy is thought tocontribute to the success of thefarm.Wider integrated farming systems however oppose such autonomy by making farm management décisions remotely.One of the greatest threats to the success of meat sheep farms is thepresence of parasitic gastrointestinal nematodes.This study questioned whether a greater level of farmerautonomy could be correlated to the better control of the gastrointestinal nematode infections and whether this could be associated with farmer specific health beliefs. Data was collected across 36 meat sheep farms with similar climatic variables but with different beliefs and attitudes to healthcare in farming.These farms fell within three groups:French organic, French conventional and Algerian conventional farms.Information regarding farmers'health beliefs and their level of autonomy in management was gathered using questionnaires to address autonomy in the following variables:agriculture production,husbandry,feed,therapeutics,commercialization,and farmers' education.The intensity of gastrointestinal nematode infections was also measured on each of these farms using faecal egg counts on composite sheep samples.Statistical and correlation analyses of autonomy variables to gastrointestinal nematode infection intensities were carried out.The results showed farmer autonomy was notassociated with better gastrointestinal nematode control in any of the three groups of farms studied.Greater level of autonomy in husbandry and therapeutics specifically were associated with greater levels of infection.Farmers across the36 farms studied were unanimously concerned about the threat gastrointestinal nématodes present to their flocks. Yet their current knowledge was clearly not sufficient to control infections irrespective of their health beliefs.This paper makes suggestions tofacilitate communication with farmers and to improve the integration of gastro- intestinal nematode control measures.

Mots clés: Gastro-intestinal nematode; Anthelmintic treatment; Autonomy; Organic; Sheep

Domaines: Sciences agricoles; Microbiologie et Parasitologie

Jacques Cabaret, Caroline Chylinski, Salah Meradi, Gabriel Laignel, Christian Nicourt, et al.. The trade-off between farmers' autonomy and the control of parasitic gastro-intestinal nématodes of sheep in conventional and organic farms. Livestock Science, 2015, 181, pp.108-113. ⟨10.1016/j.livsci.2015.10.004⟩. ⟨hal-01251261⟩