Assessing farmers’ perspective on antibiotic usage and management practices in small-scale layer farms of Mymensingh district, Bangladesh

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Indiscriminate and injudicious use of antibiotics in layer farms is a common practice of Bangladesh for the compensation of Poor management practices and ignorance. Despite this scenario, there is no published documentation on antibiotic usage pattern and farm management practices in layer farms. This study was undertaken to understand the farmers’ perspective in small-scale layer farms regarding antibiotics usage and farm management. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A questionnaire survey was conducted in 120 small-scale layer farms of Mymensingh district during January-February 2017. We only considered farms in production. Data were analyzed on antibiotic usage, purpose, egg management, understanding of antibiotic residue, withdrawal period, and other issues. RESULTS: Among 120 farmers, about 94.16% of farmers are using antibiotics without respecting the withdrawal period. Only 39.1% of farmers possess knowledge of residues. In our surveyed farms, 91.83% of farmers are not practicing egg washing before supplying to the market and 52.67% of farmers are unaware of cleaning and disinfection of egg tray. Ten different types of antibiotics of seven classes have found in the survey. Most antibiotics are in the Watch (49%) and Reserve (8%) groups according to the WHO AWaRe categorization and 73% antibiotics are critically important for human medicine and are considered as last resort. CONCLUSION: This study found that due to the lack of knowledge and poor management, farmers consider using antibiotics as the most effective practices to control disease and enhancement of egg production. These indiscriminate uses of antibiotics are responsible for antibiotic residual and resistance problem. Here, we also provide some suggestion and guidelines to improve management practices to minimize the emerging problems of antimicrobial resistance through small-scale layer farms.