Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of broiler chicken farmers toward antimicrobial resistance

One important issue in using antibiotics in veterinary medicine is the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Understanding farmers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices could highlight the factors that influence decision-making in using antibiotics on the farm. Ninety-four poultry farmers from Fars province, southern Iran, were asked to complete a structured questionnaire regarding AMR. A high proportion of farmers (> 90%) acknowledged the association between antibiotic use and AMR in poultry, while one-third of farmers failed to recognize the relationship between antibiotic use in poultry and AMR in humans. Most farmers (66%) appreciated that using antibiotics for the treatment of diseases is very important in inducing AMR. However, the majority failed to acknowledge the high importance of antibiotic usage for growth promotion (71%) or diseases prophylaxis (61%) in inducing AMR. Less than half always adhered to using the recommended dosage of drugs and selecting the antibiotics without culture and susceptibility testing was practiced to some extent by 52% of farmers. Statistical analyses using logistic regression showed that farmers with a history of completing official training for poultry production had more positive attitudes (OR = 4.0, P = 0.02) and better practices (OR =3.1, P = 0.03) toward AMR compared with farmers who had not the history of training. Most farmers cited veterinarians as their main favorite source of information to learn more about the concept of AMR. This study establishes baseline estimates for knowledge, attitudes, and practices of poultry farmers toward AMR. Program planning for the transfer of relevant information to farmers, in particular association of antibiotic use in poultry and AMR in humans and importance of antibiotic use for growth promotion in inducing AMR, as well as instructing them about the prudent use of antibiotics are highly warranted. These tasks are preferentially better to be implemented by veterinary practitioners.