Tasikmalaya

We spent Thurs, Fri & Mon working in Tasikmalaya. Tasik has a lot of longyam (integrated poultry/fish farms) and I’m going to post some photos here. The chicken houses (more broiler, but some layer, too) are built over ponds. Depending on the specific management practices, the broiler litter may be shoveled into the pond a couple of times a production period (30-35 days). The broilers may not have littler for the last 10-12 days or so…they just walk around on the bamboo floor and poop (mostly) through the slats. Layers are, sadly, housed in battery-style cages and the floors under their cages are much more open. Most of these producers are small (2000 chickens or less in a house) and their biosecurity practices are terrible. Add that to the neighbors’ backyard chickens, ducks and geese that run all over creation, and you’re just asking for a hi-path avian influenza outbreak. Yikes.

The interviews went well, though. Everyone was so happy to help us and the folks who accompanied us around bent over backward to be helpful and enthusiastically invited us back. I had one really long interview because the father, 2 sons & a neighbor (who all work in longyam broiler production) had a ton of questions about HPAI. I couldn’t answer a lot of them (epidemiologists, virologists, vets, physicians, everyone is stumped about this human case business: why the fatality rate is so high; why a good chunk of the victims were healthy adults; and why only 50-some-odd people have gotten sick in Indonesia, which has a huge population and literally millions and millions of people have close contact with poultry and other birds on a regular basis.) But I told them that the best things they could do to protect themselves were to use PPE and to use good biosecurity in their own chicken houses. If they keep their birds healthy by using dedicated clothing and tools, disinfecting their tools and boots when they enter & exit the houses, avoiding contact with other birds, etc. they will be protecting themselves, as well. They seemed to be pretty happy to hear practical suggestions, and also excited to do something to help out the new PDS/PDR (participatory disease surveillance and response) teams that were trained by FAO the week I arrived and just started working in Tasik as of July 1.

The hotel in Tasik that we stayed in was really funny. They bragged about how they were the only hotel in Tasik with “stars” (3 of them, but it was not clear from whence they came.) It was clearly fancy at one point, perhaps 25-30 years ago. Now it’s just ornate and sort of shabby. And way too expensive. We had a late dinner in their ‘coffee shop’ which had a gold disco ball, loud elevator music, and a fabulous stage—complete with air-brushed portraits of Elvis & Marilyn Monroe. They also had a clearly posted policy that ladies entertaining gentleman visitors (and vice-versa) had to keep their doors open—tee, hee. A nice thing: they had a few more TV channels than our hotel in Lembang, including Real Madrid TV. So I got to watch a re-play of a playoff game from earlier this year, with commentary in English. But the hotel in Lembang is *so* much nicer…really clean, super-nice staff that throws food at us, hot water all the time, normal toilet. (Never underestimate the value of having regular access to a decent toilet while traveling.)

Photos: broiler and layer longyam, inside & outside. Chickens in a tree (gave some guys fixing a car a good laugh by taking that picture).