Keeping a finger on the pulse of Indonesian biosecurity
19 November 2024
Indonesian demand for Australian cattle remains critical for our export industry and the Indonesian Biosecurity Support Program will play a vital role in securing the future sustainability of our largest live cattle export market.
The program was initiated following the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and lumpy skin disease (LSD) in Indonesia in 2022.
It was established by MLA in June 2022, and is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) and run in partnership with the consultancy firm Ausvet.
Prior to the outbreak in 2022, FMD hadn't appeared in Indonesia since the 1980s, while LSD had never been present. As a result, biosecurity was a lower priority for Indonesian feedlots up to that point and feedlots were very hard hit by the outbreak.
MLA understood how the economic effect of multiple outbreaks would impact the Indonesian feedlot industry and the possible impact on Australian cattle exports to that country, and recognised an emerging opportunity to help build biosecurity capabilities across these feedlots.
Since then, Australia's multi-phased Indonesian Biosecurity Support Program has seen Ausvet work collaboratively with industry on the ground to deliver rapid and impressive results.
Here's a look at the two phases of the program.
Phase 1: Refining capabilities with expert guidance
Senior Ausvet consultant Emma Zalcman is a veterinarian epidemiologist with extensive experience helping prevent and control disease outbreaks in a wide range of contexts.
During the first phase of the program, Emma said Ausvet focused on delivering three key priorities for the Indonesian feedlots:
- technical information
- workshops
- risk assessments.
She said Indonesia's feedlots had already begun implementing high levels of biosecurity by the time the Ausvet team arrived in-country in September 2022.
"Our role was to work with the very capable Indonesian feedlot vets to help expand their knowledge in highly specialised areas of veterinary epidemiology and biosecurity;' Emma said.
"These aren't areas most vets would be experienced in, but Ausvet has that expertise so it was an area where we could really add value."
The first priority was to create a suite of new technical materials to bridge the gaps that existed.
"Up to that point, the literature on managing FMD generally fell into two camps," Emma said.
"It either focused on high-income countries that were free of FMD (like the UK) where humane destruction of infected and exposed livestock is a key component of the response, or it looked at low-income countries (like Laos or Cambodia) where FMD continues to be endemic.
"Indonesia fell somewhere in between the two - it might be a middle-income country, but its feedlot system is quite sophisticated with relatively high production."
Ausvet also ran workshops with Indonesian feedlot vets to discuss the basics of disease transmission and take them back to first principles: what things would bring disease into a feedlot and how can they be stopped.
Structured risk assessments were then conducted onsite at 35 feedlots, using a checklist to assess what biosecurity measures were already in place and get an understanding of any challenges.
"On the basis of the risk assessment, we provided recommendations reports that summarised what they were doing right, what they were missing and what practical things they could do to improve their biosecurity."
Phase 2: Embedding biosecurity practices
The second phase of the program will be fully funded by DAFF, with an initial $300,000 provided in May 2024.
It will focus on two priorities:
- reducing the incidence of other diseases besides FMD/LSD
- achieving accreditation for Indonesian feedlots.
Treating other diseases for improved productivity Like many countries, Indonesia's feedlots have endemic diseases, such as respiratory diseases.
“Eliminating diseases in feedlots makes the whole value chain a lot more cost-effective,” Emma said.
“That will help make Australian beef much more competitive with the local product.”
Currently, Indonesia makes no differentiation between large feedlots which invest in remaining FMD-free and small holdings which operate without biosecurity measures.
“Despite the huge difference in their risk profile, the feedlots are subject to the same constraints as the smallholdings when moving animals to the abattoir,” Emma said.
“Helping Indonesian feedlots achieve accreditation as a biosecure 'compartment' to recognise their low-risk status is a key priority of this second phase of the program.”
Emma said it was repeatedly raised as an issue by both industry and the Indonesian Government during Phase 1.
“Everyone is keen to see this addressed because the feedlot industry can't operate effectively until unnecessary red tape is eliminated.”
The results
Six months after delivering the recommendations reports from Phase 1 of the program, Ausvet revisited each feedlot to assess the results and found around 75% of the 228 recommendations made had already been adopted, demonstrating real industry-wide reform over an eight-month period.
Emma believes the program's success was largely due to the recommendations being achievable and cost-effective.
“We kept the recommendations reports brief so managers would read them and made sure we focused on practical, easy-to-implement changes that reflected the individual circumstances of each feedlot,” Emma said.
“Often, they were inexpensive to implement, or they actually saved money.
“When people think of biosecurity, they immediately think it will require a dramatic investment.
“In reality, someone with a high-pressure hose who knows how to use it properly is going to be more effective than some technology that sprays the top of the vehicle while the disease is carried on the wheels and undercarriage.”
