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Background and issues

Bovine tuberculosis is a dreaded bacterial disease, as it affects both cattle and wildlife, and is potentially zoonotic. Its prevalence has been steadily increasing in France over the past decade, posing a growing threat to public health and the trade in cattle products. In a context where its detection is difficult (often ex-post in the slaughterhouse) and treatment is rare, the major challenge is prevention, by encouraging the implementation of biosecurity practices.

Results

The identification of levers to ensure that as many farmers as possible adopt biosecurity measures involves three successive stages: 1) identifying the risk factors for infection linked to farm structures and practices; then 2) estimating the determinants of the adoption of biosecurity practices by farmers; and 3) developing incentive policies that take into account the diversity of practices. The statistical and econometric analysis first showed that the probability of infection was highly dependent on animal density, as well as on the introduction of new animals into the herds, showing that the degree of intensification and the self-renewal capacity of the herds play a strong role. Secondly, the results show that the decisions of neighbours matter a lot in individual management choices, and that spillover effects exist depending on the practices. We also observe that biosecurity decisions are also dependent on other business choices, such as AB labelling or the existence of marketing contracts. These results allow the development of an incentive policy for on-farm biosecurity efforts. A principal-agent model is developed, in which the heterogeneity of farmers, the externalities linked to the disease and its management, and the lack of information on the real health status of flocks (risk of moral hazard) are considered. The results underline that a policy of targeted aid according to the individual constraints of farmers is likely to produce the best effects for the collective prevention of this disease.

Perspectives

The contributions of this work constitute a major advance in the understanding of infection risk management in animal health. The economic and statistical tools developed will make it possible to better evaluate private choices so as to come as close as possible to the reality of farmers in terms of preventive management of health disasters.

Valorisation

A publication resulting from this work is published in the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. The work carried out has also been presented at various seminars and conferences, both nationally (JRSS 2019 in Bordeaux) and internationally (for example AAEA 2019 in Atlanta - EAAE PhD WORKSHOP 2019).

Bibliographic references

Osseni, A. F., Gohin, A., & Rault, A. (2021). Optimal Biosecurity Policy with Heterogeneous Farmers. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, TBD-TBD.

Osseni, A.F. (2021). Preventive management and consequences of health risks in animal production. Application to bovine tuberculosis in France. Thèse de doctorat. L’institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement.

Osseni, A. F., Gohin, A., & Rault, A. (2019). On the optimal policy for infectious animal disease management: a principal-multiple agents approach.

• 8th PhD Workshop of European Association of Agricultural Economics, Uppsala, Sweden.
• The annual meeting of Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA), Atlanta, USA.
• 12ème journées de recherche en sciences sociales INRA-SFER-CIRAD, Bordeaux, France..