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App-based monitoring system to help prevent spread of bird flu
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Stay alert – Jakarta administration officers clean bird cages to prevent the spread of bird flu. (Tempo/-)
F
armers across the nation with small and medium-sized businesses have been urged to improve monitoring of their livestock through use of digital technology, as Indonesia continues to record more bird flu cases.
The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) representative office in Indonesia on Friday launched an online system, "Petelur.ID", in collaboration with the Indonesian Association of Poultry Veterinarians (ADHPI) and developers Intelligence Dynamics.
The app, which is free to use and download, aims to improve farmers' capacity while at the same time addressing rising cases of bird flu, FAO officials say.
"I believe that the use of this tool will assist farmers greatly in managing their farms, in tracking poultry health and disease and also the productivity of their layer flocks," James McGrane, Team Leader FAO Emergency Center for Transboundary Diseases (ECTAD) Indonesia, told reporters on Friday at the launch of the app.
McGrane said the functions available on the app were based on recommendations from a study conducted on the effectiveness of biosecurity interventions in order to improve productivity and the control of diseases, including highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
FAO-ECTAD national technical adviser, Erry Setyawan, said the tool would continue to be developed and could eventually become a platform for communication among farmers to share best practice and to boost communication between farmers and poultry health experts at ADHPI.
Intelligence Dynamics CEO, Dios Kurniawan revealed that the idea for the project was initiated three months ago. Data from the Agriculture Ministry reveal that the number of bird flu cases continued to rise in the first four months of the year, with 49 cases in April alone. The trend showed improvement throughout May and June, before suddenly spiking again in July.
In total, 188 cases have been recorded in 2016 so far, with as many as 92,014 poultry dying from the virus, consisting mostly of ducks and layer poultry. (ebf)
