“It’s a habit. They’ve been doing it for decades and they feel good and safe.”: A qualitative study of barriers and opportunities to changing antimicrobial use in the Indonesian poultry sector

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 18; no. 9; p. e0291556
• Main Authors: Hibbard, Rebecca, Chapot, Lorraine, Yusuf, Havan, Ariyanto, Kurnia Bagus, Maulana, Kusnul Yuli, Febriyani, Widya, Cameron, Angus, Vergne, Timothée, Faverjon, Céline, Paul, Mathilde C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science 25-09-2023; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Actors; Actresses; Agricultural practices; Agricultural sciences; Agriculture; Agriculture, economy and politics; Animals; Anti-infective agents; Antibiotics; Antimicrobial agents; Antimicrobial resistance; Behavior; Biology and Life Sciences; Data collection; Decision making; Disease prevention; Drug resistance in microorganisms; Farmers; Farms; Influence; Life Sciences; Medicine and Health Sciences; People and Places; Poultry; Poultry industry; Private sector; Qualitative research; Research and Analysis Methods; Risk reduction; Safety and security measures; Sample size; Sciences and technics of agriculture; Social organization; Stakeholders; Technical services; Indonesia; Southeast Asia; Vietnam
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291556

Interventions to change antimicrobial use (AMU) practices can help mitigate the risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) development. However, changing AMU practices can be challenging due to the complex nature of the factors influencing AMU-related behaviours. This study used a qualitative approach to explore the factors that influenced decision-making on AMU by farmers and other actors in the Indonesian poultry sector. Thirty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted with farmers, technical services staff from the private sector, and representatives of associations, universities, and international organisations in Central Java, West Java, and East Java. Thematic analysis identified three patterns of influence on AMU: how farmers used information to make AMU-related decisions, the importance of farmers’ social and advisory networks, and the motivations driving changes in AMU behaviours. Key barriers identified included a lack of shared understanding around when to use antibiotics, financial pressures in the poultry sector, and a lack of engagement with government veterinary services. Potential opportunities identified included high farmer awareness of AMU, identification of private sector actors and peer networks as the stakeholders with established relationships of trust with farmers, and the importance of farmers’ conceptions of good farming practices, which could be engaged with to improve AMU practices.