No abstract available.https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-sciencedm2022Veterinary Tropical Disease

Alders, Robyn

Chenais, Erika

Depner, Klaus

Dione, Michel

Jor, Ferran

Penrith, Mary-Louise

UPSpace at the University of Pretoria

EDITORIALpublished: 26 April 2022doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.878928Frontiers in Veterinary Science | www.frontiersin.org 1 April 2022 | Volume 9 | Article 878928Edited by:Salome Dürr,University of Bern, SwitzerlandReviewed by:Terence Odoch,Makerere University, Uganda*Correspondence:Mary-Louise Penrithmarylouise_penrith@yahoo.comSpecialty section:This article was submitted toVeterinary Epidemiology andEconomics,a section of the journalFrontiers in Veterinary ScienceReceived: 18 February 2022Accepted: 01 April 2022Published: 26 April 2022Citation:Penrith M-L, Depner K, Jori F,Dione M, Alders R and Chenais E(2022) Editorial: African Swine Fever inSmallholder and Traditional PigFarming Systems: Research,Challenges and Solutions.Front. Vet. Sci. 9:878928.doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.878928Editorial: African Swine Fever inSmallholder and Traditional PigFarming Systems: Research,Challenges and SolutionsMary-Louise Penrith 1*, Klaus Depner 2, Ferran Jori 3, Michel Dione 4, Robyn Alders 5,6 andErika Chenais 71Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa,2 Institut für Internationale Tiergesundheit/One Health, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Greifswald, Germany, 3UMR ASTRE(Animals, Health, Territories, Risk and Ecosystems), CIRAD-INRAE, Montpellier, France, 4 Animal and Human Health Program,International Livestock Research Institute, Dakar, Senegal, 5Development Policy Centre, Australian National University,Canberra, ACT, Australia, 6 Kyeema Foundation, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 7Department of Disease Control andEpidemiology, National Veterinary Institute, Uppsala, SwedenKeywords: African swine fever, control and prevention, smallholder pig farmers, socioeconomic impacts,participatory approachesEditorial on the Research TopicAfrican Swine Fever in Smallholder and Traditional Pig Farming Systems: Research,Challenges and SolutionsAfrican swine fever (ASF) is a devastating disease of pigs that originated in south-eastern Africa ina sylvatic cycle involving warthogs and soft ticks of theOrnithodoros moubata complex. The diseaseis now global with presence in five continents (1–3). While it is greatly feared throughout all partsof the pig industry worldwide, its effects in the smallholder and traditional pig farming sectors thatpredominate in most low-income countries and are also present in many higher income countriesare often underestimated. Smallholder pig farming is important formany reasons, providing crucialhousehold income, improving nutrition and food security by supplying an affordable source of highquality protein and bioavailable micronutrients as well as fulfilling social and cultural obligationsthat keep ancient traditions alive and improve social coherence and sustainability (4, 5). Pigproduction units categorized as “backyard” and “village” are over-represented in reports of ASFoutbreaks to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) from low- and middle-incomecountries, and they may be seen as a threat to the commercial pig industry and a hindrance toeradication of ASF. However, recognizing the importance of pigs to numerous smallholders andtheir potential contribution to poverty alleviation, preventing ASF in smallholder pigs has becomea focus of attention and research.Early detection and rapid reaction are important for efficient control of ASF, but are difficultto achieve in the smallholder sector as it involves large numbers of pig owners in rural areas withinadequate infrastructure and animal health service provision. Prevention of ASF outbreaks byimproving biosecurity in production systems and the value chains that serve them is key to limitlosses and can only be achieved by working with the pig owners to decide what is feasible for them,using participatory methods. Much has been done to create awareness of ASF and how to prevent itPenrith et al. Editorial: ASF in Smallholder and Traditional Pig Farming Systemsin the absence of an effective vaccine, but many of therecommendations are not feasible for people with limitedresources, including inadequate access to finance (6).This Research Topic is aimed at collecting articles that will addto our knowledge of the traditional and smallholder pig sectors,the impacts of ASF and challenges faced in these sectors, and theapproaches that are being used to support feasible and effectiveprevention and control.In this special Research Topic there are 12 articles addressingthese aspects in seven countries across three continents. Sevenarticles focus on management of ASF, three on socio-economicimpact, one on rapid field diagnosis and one on policy andlegislation. The articles are briefly summarized according tothose categories.In the article by Mutua and Dione the epidemiological role offactors such as the context of pig value chains and human riskbehaviors is reviewed with a focus on smallholder pig systemsin Africa. In this regard farm level biosecurity is particularlyemphasized, and factors influencing its adoption are highlightedin the article. Priority areas to consider while designinginterventions to improve pig productivity are identified to besocio-cultural factors, weaknesses at the disease control policylevel as well as gender and other broader equity aspects.Aliro et al. identify challenges for implementing biosecurity insmallholder pig value chains in spite of the actors understandingand accepting its importance, and propose addressing theconstraints through participatory development of socially andculturally appropriate biosecurity measures.The implementation of improved biosecurity measures isparticularly relevant in areas combining a common and abundantpresence of wild pigs with extensive and other outdoorfarming systems in all different regions of the world, includingsmallholder or free-ranging pig systems in Africa (Payne et al.) ortraditional pig farming systems in the Mediterranean (Gisclardet al.; Rolesu et al.) and North Macedonia (O’Hara et al.). Inall cases, regardless of the geographic origin and diversity ofcultural contexts, the measures required to reach a higher levelof biosecurity should be flexible, adapted to the local socio-economic and cultural context and incentivised by improvedtrade and higher production gains.Long-distance spread of ASF virus remains an importantunsolved problem, mainly due to anthropogenic factors that canhardly be controlled. In the Samara oblast of Russia, Glazunovaet al. demonstrate that outbreaks reported in backyard farms withlow biosecurity were mainly related to the transport and trade ofpigs and pork products from ASF-affected regions.All three ASF impact studies in this issue relate to differentparts of Asia. The study in Vietnam (Nguyen-Thi et al.) focuseson the economic effect of the ASF outbreaks and controlmeasures across the different pig sectors, indicating that ASFmight change the structure of the pig sector to a larger modernsector but that smallholder pig farmers still need to be supported.The studies in the Philippines (Cooper et al.) and Timor-Leste(Berends et al.) place a strong emphasis on the social impacts aswell as economic effects on the large backyard pig farming sectorsin both countries and propose participatory ASF managementinterventions that could mitigate the identified impacts.Although there are very good and reliable laboratory testsfor the detection of ASF (e.g., qPCR diagnostic tests), laboratorydiagnosis remains a bottleneck in countries with limitedlaboratory capacity and financial resources. Cost-effective andalternative methods suitable for field use are therefore desirable,especially for areas with suboptimal laboratory infrastructure.The loop-mediated isothermal amplification test (LAMP) hasbeen shown in Timor-Leste to be a robust, highly specific andsensitive diagnostic test for ASF, suitable for use in the field andin areas with limited laboratory capacity (Phillips et al.).The article by Busch et al. argues that in order to improveASF control, a disease-specific legal framework based on thelatest scientific evidence is needed. It compares the legal basisfor ASF control in a number of pig-producing regions globally,considering diverse production systems while consideringcurrent scientific evidence in relation to ASF spread and control.It is specifically emphasized that blanket policies, which do nottake into account disease-relevant characteristics of a biologicalagent or the specifics under which the host species are kept, canhamper disease control efforts and even be counter-productive.In summary, the results of these studies provide newand relevant insights into the challenges facing preventionand control of ASF in an array of smallholder pigfarming settings, with and without wildlife involvement,and its impacts on the farmers and pig value chainactors. Based on their findings, the researchers offerconstructive proposals for more participatory, inclusiveand context-adapted approaches to prevention and controlof ASF.AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONSM-LP wrote the introduction and conclusion. All authorscontributed to the central part relating to the individual articlesand reviewed and approved the submitted version.REFERENCES1. Penrith M-L. Current status of African swine fever. CABI Agric Biosci. (2020)1:11. doi: 10.1186/s43170-020-00011-w2. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Update on the ASFSituation in Asia and the Pacific. (2022). Available online at https://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/programmes/en/empres/ASF/situation_update.html (accessedFebruary 6, 2022).3. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. African Swine Fever.FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean. Available onlineat: https://www.fao.org/americas/priorities/african-swine-fever/en/ (accessedFebruary 6, 2022).4. Chenais E, Boqvist S, Emanuelson U, von Brömssen C, Ouma E, Aliro T,et al. Quantitative assessment of the social and economic impact of Africanswine fever outbreaks in northern Uganda. Prev Vet Med. (2017) 144:134–48. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2017.06.002Frontiers in Veterinary Science | www.frontiersin.org 2 April 2022 | Volume 9 | Article 878928Penrith et al. Editorial: ASF in Smallholder and Traditional Pig Farming Systems5. Dione MM, Akol J, Roesel K, Kungu J, Ouma EA, Wieland B, et al.Risk factors for African swine fever in smallholder pig production systemsin Uganda. Transbound Emerg Dis. (2017) 64:872–82. doi: 10.1111/tbed.125426. Penrith M-L, Bastos A, Chenais, E. With or without avaccine—complementary and alternative approaches to managingAfrican swine fever in resource-constrained smallholdersettings. Vaccines. (2021) 9:116. doi: 10.3390/vaccines9020116Conflict of Interest: RA was employed by Kyeema Foundation.The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence ofany commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potentialconflict of interest.The handling editor declared a past collaboration with the FJ.Publisher’s Note: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authorsand do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those ofthe publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated inthis article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed orendorsed by the publisher.Copyright © 2022 Penrith, Depner, Jori, Dione, Alders and Chenais. This is anopen-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionLicense (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted,provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that theoriginal publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academicpractice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not complywith these terms.Frontiers in Veterinary Science | www.frontiersin.org 3 April 2022 | Volume 9 | Article 878928

Editorial : African swine fever in smallholder and traditional pig farming systems : research, challenges and solutions

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Editorial : African swine fever in smallholder and traditional pig farming systems : research, challenges and solutions

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