1. Introduction
Food safety has become a crucial issue around the world. In order to improve the quality and promote food safety in Malaysia’s livestock industry parallel to international standard, the good agricultural practices were established by using the name of Malaysian Good Agricultural Practices (MyGAP) scheme (formerly known as Livestock Farm Practice Scheme). The scheme was initiated since 2003 which includes criteria such as healthcare, biosecurity, premises and infrastructure, medications use and farm waste management and pollution program. The inspection of quality is based on the Malaysian Standards Good Animal Husbandry Practice (MSGAHP) MS 2027:2006 and (or) Hazards Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) MS 1480:2007. This guideline requires all industry players who are involved in the production of
International Journal of Social Science Research eISSN: 2710-6276 [Vol. 2 No. 2, June 2020]
http://myjms.moe.gov.my/index.php/ijssr
IMPACT OF GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES ON MALAYSIAN CATTLE INDUSTRY: A CASE OF FOOT AND
MOUTH DISEASE (FMD)
Abdullah Mohamad1 and Hanny Zurina Hamzah2*
1 2 Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, MALAYSIA
a Corresponding author: hannyzurina@upm.edu.my
Article Information:
Article history:
Received date : 4 February.2020 Revised date : 10 April.2020 Accepted date : 10 April 2020 Published date : 29 May 2020
To cite this document:
Mohamad, A., & Hamzah, H. (2020).
IMPACT OF GOOD
AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES ON MALAYSIAN CATTLE INDUSTRY:
A CASE OF FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE (FMD). International Journal Of Social Science Research, 2(2), 39-45.
Abstract: This paper examined the impact of good agricultural practices on cattle production during and after the foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in Peninsular Malaysia. A total 355 cattle farmers were survey across six states in Peninsular Malaysia from April and October 2018. Using the propensity score matching (PSM) technique with nearest neighbor approach results demonstrate that by practice good agricultural practices total production is significantly increased by RM13,253.48 per year. Due to the benefit offers, it is vital to encourage more cattle farmers to practice good agricultural practice.
Keywords: Cattle, foot and mouth disease (FMD), Good Agricultural Practices, propensity score matching (PSM).
domestic supply, low self-sufficient level, highly relying on import (Department of Veterinary Services, 2019) and frequently infected by foot and mouth disease (World Organization for Animal Health, 2019).
As discussed in the literature, improving a rearing system generally leads to an improved farm output. According to Rennie et al. (1977), a positive relationship was found between improved rearing system and production as well as farm income. The impact is wide and it does not only benefit the industry. Rennie et al. (1977) pointed out that the traditional rearing system lacks calving percentage, calf weight, post-weaning growth and high calf mortality, compared to the modern rearing system. However, as the traditional rearing system is normally characterized by poor access to the market, low technological adoption, low efficiency and lack of tenure security, Temoso et al. (2016) suggested that constraints in the traditional rearing system can be overcome through improvements in beef technologies and effectiveness of technology transfer process. In another vein, by converting to modern system cattle, farmers have cattle with more weaning weight, higher sale price and are more valuable than those bred using the traditional rearing system (Gillespie and Nehring, 2012).
Derks et al. (2014) proved that through involvement in the Herd Health Management Program (HHMP), cattle farmers have higher total revenue per cattle. In fact, farmers who are involved in the HHMP are capable of producing more milk/ cow per year (336kg) and lower milk sematic cell (8,340 cells/mL) than farmers who are not involved in the program (Derks, van Werven et al., 2014).
Despite the shortcomings, the traditional rearing system is better in animal feed efficiency than the organic rearing system (Woodward and Fernandez, 1999). Hence, cattle have faster weight gain, produce heavier carcass and have opportunity of being slaughtered early. In fact, Fernandez and Woodward (1999) highlighted that the conventional rearing system only needs 163.6 days compared to the organic rearing system which requires more than 225.8 days of feed to reach the target body weight (i.e. 567kg backfat 0.75 to 0.90cm). In other words, the conventional rearing system has better feed conversion than the organic system.
On the other hand, lameness and injury are higher in the zero grazing system than the grazing system. In fact, lameness of cattle in the zero grazing system is 2.9 times higher than those in the grazing system (Gitau et al., 1996). As suggested by Hernandez-Mendo et al. (2007), releasing the cattle in a period on the grazing system can help the lame cattle recover from the hoof and leg injuries. This is due to the fact that the grazing system provides a more comfortable surface for the cattle to stand. In fact, cattle on the grazing system spend less time (10.9 hours per head) lying down than those kept indoors (12.3 hours per head).
Sequel to the aforementioned, this paper aims to estimate the impact of practice good agricultural practice (i.e. by practice MyGAP knowledge) in sustaining cattle production during and after FMD outbreak in Peninsular Malaysia.
2. Materials and Methods 2.1 Source of Data
A total of 355 cattle farmers (133 farms practice MyGAP knowledge and 222 farms without practice MyGAP knowledge) were survey across six states in Peninsular Malaysia (i.e.
Kelantan, Pahang, Johor, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka) from April and October 2018. To collect the data, snowball sampling technique was used by based on list of farmers affected by the FMD from DVS. Data collected is about farm size, education, age, sex, types of breed, labour, experience, disease risk, income, total production, mortality and morbidity.
To ensure precision of information, FMD symptoms experienced were required to describe by farmers. For the data collection purpose, face-to-face interview were used.
2.2 Data Analysis
To analyze the data, propensity score matching (PSM) technique was applied. This technique was initiated by Rosenbaum and Rubin (1983) and it is one of the non-parametric techniques that do not depend on the functional forms and distribution assumption (Asfaw et al., 2012).
The idea of PSM is to compare two different outcomes (i.e. practice and non-practice) for the same unit according to the predicted propensity score by using a regression model (Rosenbaum and Rubin, 1983). The PSM technique is capable of controlling the bias that may arise due to the simple comparison between the two outcomes (Chagwiza et al., 2016).
As this study compares two different outcomes, the number of cattle farmers affected by FMD was divided into two groups (i.e. practice and non-practice). Practice and non-practice were classified based on their farm status – practice and non-practice MyGAP guidelines. For statistical analysis reason, practice and non-practice were distinguished using a set of a dummy variable (i.e. 1 is for practice and 0 for non-practice).
According to Caliendo and Kopeinig (2008), the propensity score varies between practice and non-practice. Therefore, we cannot compare if the farm has a different score. Given the aforementioned variables, this study aims to estimate average treatment effect on treated (ATT).
According to Caliendo and Kopeinig (2008), ATT equation can be expressed as:
ℐ𝐴𝑇𝑇 = 𝐸(ℐ ⎸𝐷 = 1) = 𝐸[𝑌(1)⎸𝐷 = 1] − 𝐸[𝑌(0)⎸𝐷 = 1] (1)
Where 𝑌(1)represents practice and 𝑌(0) is for non-practice. To match the propensity score for both practice and non-practice, two algorithms namely nearest neighbor matching (NNM) and kernel matching (KM) technique were applied using STATA software (version 15.0). The NNM is divided into two namely with and without replacement. Since NNM with replacement has more advantages, the one-to-one nearest neighbor with replacement matching technique was applied. As suggested by the Chagwiza et al. (2016) applying the NNM with replacement matching technique allows an untreated individual to be used more than once as a case. To provide robustness check, the KM technique was applied. According to Chagwiza et al. (2016)
3. Result
Table 1 summarizes the demographics of respondents by practice and non-practice MyGAP knowledge in 6 states of Peninsular Malaysia. By comparing between age, gender, race/religion, marital status, experience, education and monthly household income, on the average, the result show that most of the respondents are from non-practice MyGAP knowledge (222 farmers) than practice (133 farmers).
Table 1: Demography of respondents by practice and non-practice MyGAP
Demography Practice MyGAP Non-practice
MyGAP
n % n %
Age
≤ 25 1 10.00 9 90.00
26 – 35 16 34.04 31 65.96
36 – 45 23 34.33 44 65.67
46 – 55 32 35.16 59 64.84
56 – 65 42 45.16 51 54.84
66 ≥ 19 40.43 28 59.57
Gender Male 129 38.51 206 61.49
Female 4 20.00 16 80.00
Race/
Religion
Melayu/ Muslim 132 37.29 222 62.71
Non Melayu/ Muslim 1 100.00 0 0.00
Marital status Married 124 40.92 179 59.08
Single 6 16.67 30 83.33
Divorce/ widow 3 18.75 13 81.25
Experience (year)
≤ 10 58 35.37 106 64.63
11-20 40 41.67 56 58.33
21-30 13 31.71 28 68.29
31-40 16 45.71 19 54.29
≥ 41 6 31.58 13 68.42
Education (year)
Not attend 8 24.24 25 75.76
UPSR 32 50.00 32 50.00
PMR 25 29.76 59 70.24
SPM 52 36.11 92 63.89
STPM/ Diploma 10 50.00 10 50.00
Degree 6 60.00 4 40.00
Monthly household income (MYR)
≤ 1000 67 38.95 105 61.05
1001 - 2000 55 34.16 106 65.84
2001 - 3000 3 27.27 8 72.73
3001 - 4000 3 75.00 1 25.00
4001 - 5000 3 75.00 1 25.00
≥ 5000 2 66.67 1 33.33
Table 2 shows the probability result of the variable using logit model. Out of the 9 variables used, 4 were significant (education, age, sex and breed) influence the decision to practice good agricultural practices (i.e. MyGAP). First, it was found that education has positive impact on the cattle farm performance (0.057 per year or 0.0001563 per day) and significant at 5%. This means that increase in the number of days attending formal education results in the farmers gaining new knowledge. It helps the farmers make decisions on an efficient allocation of source, how to produce and which approach should be used, thereby improving the farmers’ income.
Secondly, the positive impact of age on farm performance may be attributable to the fact that the younger farmers are more innovative and have lower risk aversion behavior than the older farmers. Further, it was discovered that gender of farmer has positive impact on the farm performance (1.2548) and significant at 5%. Lastly, we found that breed has positive impact on the farm performance (0.5569) and significant at 1%. This may occur because the cross breed is normally more productive than indigenous; and different breeds contribute differently to farm productivity.
Table 2: Logit regression model estimates
Variable Coefficient Std. error z value p ˃ |z|
Farm size 0.0031 0.0078 0.40 0.688
Education 0.0001563 0.0000739 2.12 0.034**
Age 0.0001819 0.0000217 3.78 0.000***
Gender 1.2548 0.4972 2.52 0.012**
Breed 0.5569 0.1589 3.50 0.000***
Labour 0.4867 0.3052 1.59 0.111
Experience -0.0000274 0.0000194 -1.41 0.158
Disease risk 0.3987 0.2673 0.49 0.136
Income -0.0001136 0.0001215 -0.93 0.350
Constant -4.2950 0.8622 -4.98 0.000***
No. of observation 354
LR chi2 58.15
Prob chi2 0.0000
Pseudo R2 0.1241
Log likelihood -205.2454
Note: *, ** and *** indicate 10%, 5% and 1% significance level, respectively.
Table 3 shows the impact of practice good agricultural practices on cattle production, mortality and morbidity loss. On the average, despite that the analysis is not robust, the result shows that good agricultural practices have positive effect in sustaining cattle production during and after the FMD outbreak. This finding is parallel to that of Derks et al. (2014), which found that farmers who participated in veterinary program were able to produce relatively higher than those outside the program. In unmatched situation, the result shows that total cattle production and mortality loss increase by RM13,225.51 and RM2,487.18, respectively, while FMD morbidity losses decreased (RM275.88). Using the NNM technique, the result shows that total cattle production and mortality loss increased to RM13,253.48 and RM2,421.92, respectively.
In this case, the increase in mortality is suspected to have occurred due to good agricultural practices have strict rule of procedure. For example, as the culled applied for the affected FMD
focus on prevention of diseases. In contrast, cost related to medicine is significantly lower in the organic rearing system as no antibiotics are allowed on cattle (Gillespie and Nehring, 2012).
Table 3: Impact of MyGAP knowledge on cattle farm performance
Variable Adopter Non-adopter Difference S. E T-stat
Unmatched
Total production 21591.08 8365.57 13225.51 5674.06 2.33**
Morbidity loss 1307.53 1583.41 -275.88 140.62 -1.96**
Mortality loss 2651.9 162.72 2489.18 1320.05 1.89**
Nearest neighbor
Total production 21591.08 8337.59 13253.48 7220.92 1.84**
Morbidity loss 1307.53 1416.08 -108.55 210.22 -0.52
Mortality loss 2651.9 229.98 2421.92 1708.49 1.42*
Kernel
Total production 8226.61 7996.58 230.03 1519.35 0.15
Morbidity loss 1377.46 1380.18 -2.72 158.98 -0.02
Mortality loss 277.44 243.69 33.75 129.43 0.26
Note: *, ** and *** indicate 10%, 5% and 1% significance level, respectively.
4. Conclusion
The study assessed the impact of good agricultural practices on Peninsular Malaysian cattle industry. Data was collected among 355 cattle farmers and analyzed using the PSM technique.
Findings indicate that by practice good agricultural practices it is significantly increased total cattle production and mortality losses.
The increase the cattle production and reduction in morbidity as found in the study is a proof that practice of good agricultural practices has great impact on the cattle farm. In view of this, it is necessary to encourage more cattle farmers to practice good agricultural practices due to its benefits. As the best meat price from the free FMD zone could be 50% higher than normal (Jarvis et al., 2005), it is worrisome that the cost of import adds burden to government spending.
Besides, if the domestic price of meat is too expensive compared to the neighboring countries, it is of great concern that this situation could encourage smuggling activities due to the high profit from the sale (Knight-Jones & Rushton, 2013).
5. Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the State Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) Malaysia for providing us all the information requested. We acknowledge the Putra Graduates Initiative Grant (GP-IPS) [Vot number 9632900] from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) for their funding.
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