Understanding the biosecurity monitoring and reporting intentions of livestock producers: Identifying opportunities for behaviour change.

Abstract

In many countries, government strategies for biosecurity planning and outbreaks depend upon private livestock producers being willing and able to conduct surveillance of their animals and the timely reporting of suspicious signs of disease. From a behavioural perspective, these two kinds of behaviours - surveillance and reporting - should be treated separately when developing a biosecurity plan in which producers play a key role in the prevention, detection, and reporting of animal diseases. Having an effective surveillance system in place is conceptually and practically independent of a reporting system that is both feasible and trustworthy. The behavioural intentions of 200 Australian producers to monitor their livestock and report to either the government or a private vet were measured in a structured telephone interview. Structural equation modelling revealed that these intentions had different statistical relationships with a common set of predictor variables. Moreover, classification of the producers based on belief about monitoring and surveillance resulted in three contrasting groups. These results are discussed in terms of their meaning for the development of behavioural strategies to promote surveillance and monitoring of animal disease.