For the State Agency “Agriculture Project Implementation Unit” of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Armenia

Rapid Market Assessment Private Veterinary Services at

Community Level

Presented by CARD Foundation 10/31/2012

This research was funded by the State Agency “Agriculture Project Implementation Unit (APIU) in Armenia and was carried out by CARD Foundation’s Animal Health team, with the cooperation of the regional state Agriculture Support Centres (ASC), State Food Safety Service (SFSS), community leaders and farmers. However, the findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this report are entirely those of the authors, Nazeli Grigoryan, Tigran Gabrielyan, Levon Movsisyan and Gagik Sardaryan and should not be attributed to the mentioned stakeholders.

1

Contents 1 ABSTRACT AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................. 2

1.1 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................... 3

2 Objectives and Methodology of the Assessment................................................. 4

2.1 Objective of the research ............................................................................... 4

2.2 Methodology ................................................................................................. 4

2.2.1 Preparation and activities ........................................................................ 4

2.3 Findings of the Assessment of the Veterinarians and Veterinary Services .. 5

2.3.1 Situation at livestock breeding and veterinary services .......................... 5

2.3.2 Existing Veterinarians in the targeted regions ........................................ 6

2.4 Demand for veterinarians .............................................................................. 6

2.4.1 Qualified Veterinarians and the Demographics ....................................10

2.4.2 Number of Livestock in Each Selected Region and Communities.......13

2.4.3 Livestock Number Served by 1 Veterinarian .......................................14

2.4.4 Existing Private Vet Services in the Regions ......................................17

2.5 Needs for instruments and medicine ...........................................................20

2.6 Knowledge and Information system ...........................................................22

2.6.1 Preferred methods of knowledge and information sharing ...................22

3 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................23

2

1 ABSTRACT AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Many of the veterinarians living in the rural areas are engaged in providing private veterinary services. Since disease is an important constraint on livestock productivity in the targeted regions, thorough designed intervention, can have a significant impact on rural poverty alleviation, if appropriate research conducted and implementation strategy chosen. In recognition of this, more than 450 of veterinarians were assessed, services were identified and livestock number to be served. There is, however, some doubt as to whether existing veterinary services have always been delivered to the core target group in an effective manner. Special survey was carried out among veterinarians who provide private vet services to find out number of farmers they serve and services they provide. This paper reports the results of a Veterinary Service Situation only in Aragatsotn, Shirak, Lori, Tavush, Syunik and Gegharkunik regions of Armenia. It focuses on a number of key issues related to current situation about the delivery of Animal Health services: the nature of service delivery, the number of livestock and veterinarians in the targeted regions, their age, sex and professional level. Highest priority was given to provision of private services by PVs and the most favored services they provide. There are also regional differences in perceptions of AH services as well as demand for different services. There is a discussion and an illustration of the way of drug importation, distribution and administration. Within the framework of implementation of the research and preparation of the report field visits and data collection was organized. Project team visited all targeted regions and met different stakeholders. Research was conducted among the most livestock populated regions which covers an area of 21,781 square kilometers with 1,236,400 population and populated by 517,238 heads of cattle, and 445,235 goats and sheep, 110,337 swine. Round-table discussions were conducted with veterinarians, farmers, rural community municipalities. Special visits were organized to regional representatives of state veterinary services and Agricultural Support Centres in the main livestock communities of the regions. During the Market Research, the Project Team (RT) actively cooperated with the Agriculture Project Implementation Unit (APIU), regional ASCs, SFSS, Centre for Veterinary-Sanitary Food Safety and Phyto-Sanitary Services (CVSFSPSS), farmers and Private Vets and after the feedback all recommendations are incorporated into the study to create a solid basis for further implementation of the project. The number and availability of qualified veterinarians has been determined based on the meetings, interviews, primary and secondary data collection as well as round-table discussions with all stakeholders. RT did cross checking on the collected information with the main stakeholders to be sure that the collected information is accurate and relevant.

Several weaknesses in the current situation of veterinary services were identified in the present assessment.

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1.1 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AH – Animal Health AI – Artificial Insemination APIU – Agriculture Project Implementation Unit ASAU – Armenian State Agrarian University ASC – Agriculture Support Center CARD – Center for Agribusiness and Rural Development CVSFSPSS – Centre for Veterinary-Sanitary Food Safety and Phyto-Sanitary Services LSU – Livestock Served Units PV – Private Veterinarian PVP – Private Veterinary Practitioner PVS – Private Veterinary Service RT – Research Team SFSS – State Food Safety Service

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2 Objectives and Methodology of the Assessment The Research Team undertook fieldworks as shown in Annexes in all targeted regions. The list of the stakeholders involved in the research process included (but not limited to) the following:

• PVs • Livestock keepers- both men and women • Community leaders • NGO’s – local and international • CVSFSPSS and SFSS • Local Agriculture Support Centers’ staff • Vet medicine stores

As indicated, the RT managed to visit all the targeted areas, actors and meeting the stakeholders as planned. The RT had a chance to discuss with all stakeholders the private veterinary service situation in their regions and also met with the regional government officials.

2.1 Objective of the research The main objective of the assignment was to prepare the list of active veterinarians, make a critical assessment of livestock density by the regions and to make recommendations when establishing a community-based private veterinary services system which is efficient, effective, affordable and sustainable.

The specific objectives of the assignment were, but not necessarily limited to:

• Demand for veterinarians in each region based on the number of livestock and type of service;

• Number and viability of qualified PVs, including demographics and personnel on each, in the targeted regions; services they deliver and arrangements practices they have;

• Availability and affordability of the existing services; • Availability and actual handling of drugs, including import barriers, distribution and

administration; • Number of livestock in the targeted regions.

2.2 Methodology

2.2.1 Preparation and activities The assessment was carried out by a combination of activities. It was based on seeking answers to questions through discussions with key actors and stakeholders, review of documents and field visits. Specifically, it involved:

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• Formation of the RT by the CARD Foundation composed of four people and students; • Gathering and review of data and information from national and regional vet offices; • RT visited all targeted regions and met practitioner veterinarians and farmers. • Identification and face to face interviews with key informants at various levels,

i.e., national level, regional level, and community level comprising randomly selected representatives of target potential beneficiaries of the project;

• Weekly debriefing on the preliminary findings and analysis with APIU representatives prior to preparation and submission of a draft report.

• The assignment was undertaken for a period of two month. The questionnaires, the list of people met and the number of veterinarians are given in Annexes.

2.3 Findings of the Assessment of the Veterinarians and Veterinary Services Given that the target communities in the selected regions are poor to pay much for Animal Health care and some of them are tend to be remote or inaccessible, the delivery of veterinary services raises particular problems. It is usually uneconomic for them to use professional veterinarians on a routine basis especially in extensive areas. Professionals are unwilling to establish themselves in such unlucrative practices, and travel expenses are often too high for them to make regular visits.

2.3.1 Situation at livestock breeding and veterinary services Control of livestock diseases and protection of animal health are essential components of an effective animal breeding and production program. For more than two decades, after independence, the public sector in Armenia was not responsible for some diseases and the private sector was not ready and did not have necessary capacities to overcome these problems.

In the targeted areas it has identified the activities that are and can be contracted to private veterinarians, designed straightforward contracts and monitoring systems for this work and promote access to input supplies, funding and employment through current projects.

Through the NGO sector within the donor- funded programs, some attention was paid to low potential and remote areas.

The majority of people in the targeted regions earn their living from livestock keeping. Livestock keeping which is the most important economic means of livelihood for pastoralists is not growing fast, also because of the majority of these people do not have access to facilities of animal health and husbandry, reliable medicine and AI distribution.

The research demonstrated a number of factors have acted as and still are hindrances to the improvement of livestock production in targeted regions, ranging from diseases, poor nutrition, unreliable livestock breeding sources and resources, and poor marketing of livestock products, are among the common problems associated with livestock development.

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Nevertheless, of these problems according to the meetings and interviews the livestock disease is the most pronounced constraint in the livestock development.

2.3.2 Existing Veterinarians in the Targeted Regions Veterinarians play a pivotal role in all stages of the food chain namely safe production, processing, transport, and distribution of products of animal origin, but their low numbers in both the private and public sectors of many countries represent a major constraint to world food security and safety. RT was able to collect information of existing veterinarians based on preliminary and secondary data. The number of qualified and active practitioner veterinarians in the selected regions, communities based on the survey is distributed as following:

Chart 1. Number of Veterinarians in the target regions

The above Chart indicates the number of veterinarians and veterinary paraprofessionals ranges from 54 in Tavush to 98 in Shirak regions. In order to conduct appropriate and equitable comparisons among regions, veterinary capacity is standardized further on by the most recently reported number of farms, communities in each regions and area of each region.

In the Figure 1 we can see distribution of veterinarians not only by the regions, but also by the communities. This information demonstrates how many veterinarians are available for not only at regional and territorial level but also at community level.

2.4 Demand for Veterinarians This part of report provides the analyses of current demand on private vet services and vet demographics in selected six regions of Armenia. The baseline study was conducted to find out

73

91

71

98

68

54

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Aragatsotn Gegharkunik Syunik Shirak Lori Tavush

Number of vets in target regions

Number of vets in target regions

7

demand for private veterinary practices, whether there is enough demand for PVs, how many practices already exist, what kind of vet skills are still needed, what should be improved.

The information collection process was carried out within two groups. Veterinarians and farmers were asked in each region regarding the services they provide or receive. Randomly selected vets from each region were questioned to find out the demand for veterinarians based on the type of services. Also primary data was collected on number of veterinarians, their age, sex and education.

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Figure 1. Number of Vets at Community Level

ASHTARAK

APARAN

ARAGATS

TALIN

SEVAN

GAVAR

CHAMBARAK

VARDENIS

MARTU

NI

MEG

HRI

KAPAN

GO

RIS

SISIAN

ARAGATSOTN GEGHARKUNIK SYUNIK

42

22 21 27

REGIONS REGIONS REGIONS

# of COMMUNITIES

19 vet

15 vet

12 vet

27 vet

11

# of COMMUNITIES

14

# of COMMUNITIES

17 36 15 35 25 37 13

14 vet

23 vet

28 vet

12 vet

26 vet

23 vet

16 vet

6 vet

14 vet

TARGET REGIONS

9

AKHURYAN

TARGET REGIONSS

SHIRAK LORI

TAVUSH

REGIONS REGIONS REGIONS

AMASYA

ARTIK

ANI

GYU

MRI

ASHOCK

# of COMMUNITIES

SPITAK

TUM

ANYAN

GU

GARQ

STEPANAVAN

TASHIR

IJEVAN

NO

YEMBERY

TAVU

SH

DILIJAN

# of COMMUNITIES # of COMMUNITIES

19 19 22

21 25 34 1 30

24 17 19 17 7 20 19

15 vet

16 vet

14 vet

18 vet

8 vet

21 vet

21 vet

4 vet

16 vet

18 vet

18 vet

18 vet

16 vet

5 vet

12 vet

10

2.4.1 Qualified Veterinarians and the Demographics National veterinary capacity can be best defined as the aggregate body of public and private veterinarians and veterinary paraprofessionals, including community AH workers in a given country. Veterinary capacity varies widely from region to region and even within regions of a single community depending, among other things, on the agro-geographical location of human and animal populations, as well as the existence of veterinary services and education programs. These variations are not surprising given that the speed of demographic, socioeconomic and geopolitical changes in rapidly evolving contexts can outpace the ability of government and local authorities to provide the necessary financial, institutional and policy frameworks to ensure an appropriate balance in the effective provision of essential private animal health-related services.

The report showed that female veterinarians in regions are less involved in the public and private veterinary service provision. Male veterinarians, however, generally work longer hours than female veterinarians and they are able to spend more time out in the farms.

According to Chart 2 only about 11% of veterinarians are female and little less than 4% in Aragatsotn , Gegharkunik and Tavush regions, whereas in Shirak region about 25% of veterinarians are women.

Chart 2. Gender division of vets in target regions

The report did not specify the type of work done within a practice, which could explain discrepancies. For example, male veterinarians may perform more higher-margin services than female veterinarians. However this type of research could be conducted later.

70

87

62

78

60 53

3 4 9

20

8 1

Aragatsotn Gegharkunik Syunik Shirak Lori Tavush

Gender division of vets in target regions

male female

11

The gender balance of the veterinary profession has changed dramatically over the past 20 to 25 years; having previously been very much in the balance, women now make up about 11 per cent of the profession, and the proportion is set to drop further given that women account for nearly 32,9 per cent of graduates from veterinary medicine department at ASAU over past 7 years and they prefer not to go to regions.

Table 1. Gender proportion among graduates of ASAU vet department.

Duration Speciality Total Male Female

2005-2012 Veterinary Doctor 270 190 80 Veterinary expert 82 46 36

Total 352 236 116

Age deference from region to region does not have big variation. However, unfavorable situation is in Tavush region, where not only the number of practicing veterinarians is the lowest but also the average age is higher.

In this regard, most favorable situation is in Shirak region where age and number of veterinarians’ ratio is the most appealing. Average age of veterinarians in Shirak is about 47, whereas the number of veterinarians is 98, almost twice more than in Tavush region.

Chart 3. Age difference of vets in target regions

Aragatsotn, 48

Gegharkunik, 49

Syunik, 49

Shirak, 47

Lori, 50

Tavush, 54

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Avarage age of vets in target regions

Avarage age of vets in target regions

12

Estimating the needed number and age of veterinarians is not all that is required. They must also have relevant knowledge and skills to perform the task professionally.

The quality and effectiveness of education and extension programmers, more than any other aspect of the development process, will determine how well Armenia will feed and support its land locked populations in the uncertain years ahead.

According to the Chart 4 veterinarians with high and vocational education in Lori region is almost equal, whereas in Tavush region about 61% of veterinarians have a higher education.

Chart 4. Education of vets in target regions

Table 2. Professional experience of veterinarians in targeted regions

Region Experience of vets (years) 1-5 years 6-10 years 11-15 years 16-20

years 20-50 years

Aragatsotn 11% 9.2% 11% 5.6% 63.2% Gegharkunik 13.7% 6.8% 6.8% 13.7% 59% Syunik 8.5% 12% 10.2% 13.5% 55.8% Shirak 5.9% 23.5% 4.4% 13.2% 53% Lori 11% 7.3% 5.5% 11% 65.2% Tavush 14.3% 8.2% 6.1% 6.1% 65.3%

41%

57% 54%

58%

49%

61% 59%

43% 46%

42%

51%

39%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Aragatsotn Gegharkunik Syunik Shirak Lori Tavush

Education of target vets

high education voccational education

13

According to the Table 2 most of the veterinarians have more than 20 years of professional experience. About 60% of the veterinarians graduated between 1986 to 1993.

2.4.2 Number of Livestock in Each Selected Region and Communities APIU project concentrates on disease control at community level through PVs rather than on national veterinary services or disease-control campaigns, then the question of how these communities are to be selected becomes much more important. Ideally, communities should be chosen so as to give the most benefit to the target group — livestock keepers.

Chart 5. Number of Livestock in target regions

Chart 6. Number of vets and communities in target regions

87,143 110,767 94,644 127,324

39,911 57,449

100,432 102,992

43,511

100,228

16,257

98,072

13,919

14,204

24,928

29,133

18,232

9,921

Aragatsotn Gegharkunik Lori Shirak Tavush Syunik

Number of livestock in target regions

cattle sheep/goat swine

14

Based on information in the Chart 5 and Table 3 we can state that there is at least one veterinarian for 2 communities to serve. And taking into consideration that communities in Armenia are not far from each other we can say that number of veterinarians is enough to serve communities in targeted regions. The question is how qualified these veterinarians are, what kind of services they provide, and the quality of these services.

2.4.3 Livestock Number Served by 1 Veterinarian To determine the area and livestock number to be served by 1 veterinarian based on the geographic and other conditions, several ratios have been calculated. Table 3. Average number of livestock and communities per community veterinarian

Average number of livestock, communities per community veterinarian Community Cattle Sheep/goat swine

Aragatsotn 1.53 1,193 1,375 191

Gegharkunik 1.02 1,217 1,131 156

Syunik 1.55 809 1,381 140

Shirak 1.22 1,299 1,022 297

Lori 1.65 1,391 639 367

Tavush 1.15 739 301 338

Average 1.35 1,108 975 249

0 50

100 150 200 250

73 91 71 98 68 54

112 93 110 120

112 62

Veterianarians Communities

15

In average, one veterinarian serves 1108 cattle, 975 sheep/goats and 249 swine. Interesting information was collected and analyzed after interviewing private veterinary practitioners (PVPs).

PVs in all targeted regions provide private services to farmers in 10 communities in average. Some PVs provide services to more than 10 communities serving up to 600 farmers. These PVs drive up to 80 km reaching remote communities in the area.

There is no single answer regarding how many communities, farmers and livestock one veterinarian can serve. Based on the information collected we can say that in average PV can serve more than 2200 cattle and 1100 sheep and about 660 swine.

Table 4. Average number of livestock and communities per PVPs

Average number of livestock, communities per private veterinarian

Regions Degree of involvement PVs

Community Area of coverage (km)

Number of farms

Number of livestock

nearest farthest cattle sheep/goat swine

Ara

gats

otn

High 8 0 60 150 1200 4000 200

Low 5 0 10 30 800 1000 150

Geg

hark

unik

High

4 0 12 100 300 200 600

Low 2 0 12 50 80 100 50

Syun

ik High 25 0 80 360 4500 3000 600

Low 8 0 25 200 1800 1500 300

Shir

ak High 27 0 60 600 5000 1000 2500

Low 5 0 32 80 1900 800 700

Lo ri High 13 0 70 600 6500 500 1000

16

Low 4 0 10 450 2000 150 400 T

avus

h High 14 0 32 500 1500 800 800

High 3 0 20 150 400 260 650

Ave

rage

High 15 0 52 385 3,167 1,584 950

Low 4.5 0 18 160 1,163 635 375

Based on the data presented in the Table 4 we can say that in average PVP can serve from 4 to 15 communities. Below we present comparative charts describing how many communities and livestock is served by one community veterinarian, PVs with intensive work load and PVs who has less intensive workload.

Chart 7. Average coverage by one veterinarian

0 5

10 15

1.35

15

4.5

Average coverage of communities

community 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000

1,108

3,167

1,163

Average coverage of cattle

cattle

0 500

1000 1500 2000

975 1,584

635

Average coverage of sheep/goat

sheep/goat 0 200 400 600 800

1000

249

950

375

Average coverage of swine

swine

17

2.4.4 Existing Private Vet Services in the Regions Veterinarian services are comprised of animal disease prevention, treatment measures and production advice services, which include information on breeding and feeding techniques. At present, veterinarians work “in the field,” traveling to farms and treating animals. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they began independently to provide services to private animal husbandry and poultry businesses on a fee basis; these fees have become their primary source of income, although they serve non-commercial bases as well. Some of the veterinarians operate their own veterinarian drug stores, providing production and disease-prevention advice bundled with the sale of veterinarian medicines. These are also service providers who consider their drug stores to be a core business and do not provide any treatment services. Respondents were asked about which services they considered to be the responsibility of the private veterinary service, and those which were less important for the PVs to provide. This is of interest because of increased interest concerning the role of the private veterinary service system in animal health service provision. RT asked PVs the type of services in the regions and demand for these types of services.

Figure 5. Vet Services demand coverage by P V

Reg

ions

Ass

ista

nce

durin

g bi

rth g

ivin

g

Trea

tmen

t of

Prol

apse

d ut

eri

Preg

nanc

y ch

eck

Arti

ficia

l In

sem

inat

ion

Trea

tmen

t of

Ret

aine

d pl

acen

ta

Swin

e ca

stra

tion

Hoo

f trim

min

g

Trea

tmen

t of n

on

infe

ctio

n di

seas

e

Cae

saria

n se

ctio

n

Rum

enot

omy

Rum

en p

unct

ure

Cat

tle d

ehor

ning

Con

trol a

gain

st

para

sitic

dis

ease

s

Ara

gats

otn

75% 50% 50% 25% 100% 50% 50% 75% 0% 0% 100% 25% 75%

Geg

hark

unik

80% 60% 40% 40% 80% 60% 40% 80% 0% 0% 80% 0% 80%

Syun

ik

100% 100% 100% 40% 100% 100% 100% 100% 0% 0% 100% 100% 100%

18

Shira

k

80% 60% 40% 48% 100% 80% 40% 80% 20% 20% 80% 40% 100%

Lori

100% 100% 40% 30% 100% 80% 60% 80% 20% 20% 80% 40% 100%

Tavu

sh

100% 50% 25% 40% 100% 100% 25% 100% 25% 0% 100% 0% 100%

Based on the survey results the main PV services have the following picture in selected regions. According to the respondents mentioned services are covered in the regions at different level. For example, Rumenotomy is not provided in the targeted regions or only 20% of respondents said they do Rumenotomy, whereas Treatment of Retained Placenta service is provided by almost all of the respondents. But we would like to emphasize that we did not follow up in our findings issues related to the quality of those services provided by PVs. Also, we would like to mention that in Aragatsotn region there is a AI service, but in reality this service is covered by experts from Shirak and Kotayk regions.

Additional services

Based on the information collected in the target regions the RT found out not only the existing demand for the services, but also the demand for new services indicated by veterinarians and farmers. Below we present the type of new services, new topics for each region:

Aragatsotn – Effective and efficient methods for diagnosis and treatment of blood parasitic diseases, swine AI;

Gegharkunik – Infectious disease prevention and control, new vet medicines available in Armenian market and access to those medicines;

Syunik – Quick and effective diagnostic methods, Caesarian section, rumenotomy;

Shirak – New methods for prevention and control of mastitis

Lori - Effective and efficient methods for diagnosis and treatment of blood parasitic diseases, prevention, control and treatment of pasterelosis;

Tavush – Horse castration, treatment of esophageal dilatation.

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RT described some shortcomings of veterinary services and recommendations how to improve the situation.

Shortcomings of services • Service providers have poor promotion and marketing strategies. • Service providers lack business skills to develop and market the service products. • Service products lack the features that consumers want. • Service package — availability of necessary drugs and facilities during the service

delivery, and • Service consistency—accuracy in delivering the service in a timely manner, were both

identified as desirable service products to be improved. How to improve current services? Private veterinarians were asked what they would like most to help them to improve the quality of the service they provide. This question is of interest to find out what measures PVs would suggest to address any shortfalls in the services provided. Requirements for improving services Score 1 to 5: 1 = low importance, 5 = high importance

• Promoting the demand for services - 4 • Better cost benefit analyses for - 4 • Professional development opportunities - 5 • Clear policy and legislative regulations - 3 • Availability of training and technical information - 5

So far, the most important developments that might improve the veterinary services are perceived by PVs to be the Professional Development and Trainings. This suggests that PVs believe that the best way of improving the delivery of veterinary services is to strengthen their own activities, with less emphasis on restructuring or change at policy level. RT also asked questions regarding the cost of services PVs provide.

Table 6. Cost of provided vet services

Cost AMD

Ass

ista

nce

duri

ng

birt

h gi

ving

Tre

atm

ent o

f Pr

olap

sed

uter

i

Preg

nanc

y ch

eck

Art

ifici

al

Inse

min

atio

n

Tre

atm

ent o

f R

etai

ned

plac

enta

Swin

e ca

stra

tion

Hoo

f tri

mm

ing

Tre

atm

ent o

f non

in

fect

ion

dise

ase

Cae

sari

an se

ctio

n

Rum

enot

omy

Rum

en p

unct

ure

Cat

tle d

ehor

ning

Con

trol

aga

inst

pa

rasi

tic d

isea

ses

MIN 1000 1000 1000 3000 1000 300 1000 500 20000 15000 1000 1500 30

20

MAX 20000 20000 5000 12000 10000 2000 5000 5000 20000 80000 5000 5000 500

Average 7417 7455 2000 7227 5333 1025 3167 3042 20000 35000 2111 3643 213

Analyzing the Table 6 we can conclude that some of the service prices are not stable and have big variation within the region and between the regions. This could be explained by the fact that health problems have different complications, treatment cycles and transportation costs. On the other hand, some of the services have more stable cost, for example AI and Treatment of Replaced Placenta.

2.5 Needs for instruments and medicine Access to drugs. The move towards community private animal health care raises more general issues regarding access to veterinary drugs. There are two types of supply problems. One is where the government imposes strict control barriers on the legal importation and registration on one hand and almost no control on handling and usage of such drugs at the community level. For example, in Armenia to import animal health medicine importer and/or supplier needs to overcome significant obstacles regarding medicine registration and cost of registration.

The biggest veterinary medicine producing and importing companies are eager to cover the registration costs expecting to get the refunds from the future realization of the products. But knowing the volume ratio of livestock and produced/imported meat and dairy products in Armenia, all the producers and importers consider such investments to be ineffective. We are convinced that paying 3,000 USD for registration and handling the process within 6 months don’t contribute to the development of the sector.

There is a lack of competitiveness, i.e. those producers, who already have registered veterinarians medicines, begin to follow a specific price policy for the Armenian market, offering a comparably higher price as compared to other markets, since not so many producers want to pay 3,000 USD for the registration. Disease viruses become more resistant to those medications already registered and in use for many years (obsolete), and as a result, the further usage of the medicine becomes ineffective. This in its turn results in yield decrease of livestock and consequently to the price increase of that particular product. The flow of illegal and false medicines grows. Less applicable but, in the meantime, veterinary medicines of great significance become inaccessible for Armenian Agriculture.

Just for comparison, it should be mentioned that the neighboring Georgia applies the following prices and time periods for the registration of vet medicines which is being handled by their

21

Ministry of Agriculture.

Within 10 working days, the registration costs 500 GEL (300 USD), within 3 working days 700 GEL (420 USD), and if very urgent, within a day for 800 GEL (480 USD).

Source of information: http://nfa.gov.ge/?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=111

Also, there are no appropriate laboratories and livestock farms in Armenia to check the imported medicine. And, why to check quality of medicine which are registered in EU or/and USA.

The second type of problem is not only logistical, but also has to deal with the technical and information support.

In the targeted regions Project can help the private veterinary service make veterinary medicines more available at strategic points, at the wholesale and locational levels, to be sold at the recommended retail points.

Research showed that credit for small livestock pharmacies are not affordable and therefore most of the veterinary drug stores are not able to expand their product line, sales space and distribution network. According to the assessment, some of the regional veterinary drag stores on average sell about $60 per day and mainly because of the following reasons: low demand among farmers, limited products available and quality of product and services.

Neither development projects, nor government programs aimed to work with and encourage private veterinary pharmacies in a more general way, including the provision of training in veterinary medicine use and small business management for pharmacists.

Figure 2. Handling, Distribution and Administration of the Drags

Administration PVs; Livestock keeps

Distribution

Importers, Drug stors

Registring, Importing, Handling

Government, Importers, Prodcuers

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From the above Figure 2 it is evident that the system has some shortcomings on one hand, strong government control and regulation on level of Importing and almost no involvement at the stage of drug administration. This is attributed to the fact that livestock keepers who could not make proper diagnoses and decisions on dosage are allowed to administer drugs themselves. This is contrary to the recommended international code of practice for control of the use of veterinary drugs. Intensive use of antibiotics by PVs also remains unregulated at the drug administration level.

2.6 Knowledge and Information system One of the most serious problems veterinarians face is the professional isolation. The lack of adequate library resources, especially current scientific journals, isolates veterinarians from the international mainstream of, information, technologies and science. Funds for travel to national and international meetings, to visit other laboratories or to study abroad are very scarce. All this leads to a pervasive professional isolation, which is destructive to professional productivity.

In the targeted regions, most livestock industries are small to moderate. To be able to provide services in this type of industries, the veterinarian must be well trained on the farming systems (dairy and beef cattle, sheep and goats etc), nutrition, disease prevention and control strategies, reproduction, including pregnancy diagnosis and artificial insemination, therapeutic and surgical services and vaccination schedules.

Minimum basic veterinary curriculum could be:

- Diagnostics, treatment and prevention of diseases

- Surgery - Population veterinary medicine - Immunology, epidemiology, public

health - Meat inspection

- Veterinary economics - Animal husbandry and production - Environment - Professional ethics - Animal welfare - Food hygiene

2.6.1 Preferred methods of knowledge and information exchange

There is no preferred method of knowledge and information obtaining and sharing in the targeted communities for the PVs, however an important point to keep in mind when redefining and updating veterinary education is the trend after privatization of veterinary practices in Armenia with the aim of extending the services available to small farmers.

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In the context of developing national programmers, it is important that veterinary associations and/or national federation of PVs play a strong role in determining professional development. This means far more than forming an association for meetings and exchanging information with colleagues, important though that is; an association national federation should also have credibility at national level and command sufficient respect to be invited by the appropriate government department to give its views on all animal health and production matters, including education.

3 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Veterinary private professionals working in multiple disciplines play pivotal roles between animals, their owners and society; however, it must be stressed that these roles should not be confined to animal health, but also to animal welfare and public health, including food safety. These should be reflected in future training curriculum as well as have some policy implication. The analyses of data collected from the targeted regions tolerate us to conclude that the private vet sector is more or less developed in the targeted regions of Armenia. In all 6 regions the demand for existing PV services is fulfilled, but skills of veterinarians still need to be improved for better practices. The demand should be fulfilled by improving the knowledge of vets, by better promoting these services and by improving the quality of service delivery. It is suggested to elaborate trainings topics mentioned in the research and organize them to refresh the knowledge of the veterinarians.

Most favorable situation regarding the availability of veterinarians is in Shirak region where about 98 veterinarians provide public and private services. The age of veterinarians in Shirak region is around 47 years.

The assessment shows that in the regions (Syunik and Shirak) where donor-funded AH projects have been implemented, more diversified vet services exist and veterinarians are proactive at promoting these services.

More intensive training plan should be developed and implemented in the regions where the number of veterinarians is less, age is higher and animal health projects are not functioning, for example in Tavush region.

After the establishment of regional veterinarians associations and maybe a national federation of PVs, trainings and technical capacity building programs designed for PVs should be developed and promoted by linking the regional veterinary associations to the national and world-best veterinary information and knowledge centers.

Existing technologies such as e-mail, mobile phones, short messaging services, and hard and

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software can be leveraged to improve animal disease monitoring, tracking as well as information distributing among PVs. Policymakers thus need to intervene in two fronts: (a) improve access to the veterinary medicine by removing border barriers for the medicine produced or registered in EU, USA, Canada, and (b) address the root causes of veterinary capacity deficiencies through long term institutional and structural interventions by improving existing veterinary services through enhanced visibility and support measures.

In conclusion we can state that: • There is no effective mechanisms for providing PV services as well as checking the

quality of the services rendered by the PV; • Actual registration, handling, distribution, administration and control of drugs are

inefficient and need to be changed and improved; • Access to knowledge and information is limited.

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ANNEX 1. List of people met

NN Name Surname Region Community Organizations / Farms1 Mushegh Sahakyan Aragatsotn Ashtarak Head of Centre for Veterinary-Sanitary Food Safety and

Phyto-Sanitary Services in Aragatsotn region2 Gevush Nazaryan Aragatsotn Parpi State Food Safety Service Lead specialist of Aragatsotn

region3 Ohan Khachatryan Aragatsotn Talin State Food Safety Service Lead specialist of Aragatsotn

region4 Martiros Movsisyan Aragatsotn Talin Epizootologist of Talin subregion5 Hovhannes Hakobyan Aragatsotn Ashtarak Privat vet, Swine AI specialist6 Sargis Qananyan Aragatsotn Shamiram Community vet7 Atom Sahakyan Aragatsotn Shenavan Community vet, AI specialist8 Arthur Hovhannisyan Aragatsotn Aragats Farmer9 Karen Davtyan Aragatsotn Eghipatrush Farmer

10 Samvel Aslanyan Gegharkunik Lchashen State Food Safety Service Lead specialist of Gegharkunik region

11 Sargis Avagyan Gegharkunik Sevan Epizootologist of Sevan subregion12 Rubik Gspoyan Gegharkunik Sarukhan Epizootologist of Gavar subregion13 Simon Martirosyan Gegharkunik Gavar Privat vet, AI specialist14 Pargev Burnachyan Gegharkunik Gavar Community vet, Head of Drug store15 Hamlet Hakobyan Gegharkunik Gandzak Community vet16 Vanik Karapetyan Gegharkunik Landjaghbyur Community vet17 Davit Ghredjyan Gegharkunik Artsvaqar Community vet18 Varujan Hakobyan Gegharkunik Astghadzor Epizootologist of Martuni subregion19 Hakob Margaryan Gegharkunik Vardadzor Community vet, AI specialist20 Atom Vardanyan Gegharkunik Vardenis Epizootologist of Vardenis subregion, AI specialist21 Aghvan Poghosyan Gegharkunik Akunq Community vet, AI specialist22 Vanik Harutyunyan Gegharkunik Gandzak Head of community, Farmer23 Lyova Grigoryan Gegharkunik Dzoragyugh Head of community, Farmer24 Karenchik Kuroyan Gegharkunik Gavar Farmer25 Edgar Tokhsants Syunik Goris Head of Syunik regional vet lab26 Artem Minasyan Syunik Akner State Food Safety Service Lead specialist of Syunik region27 Aragats Ghulunts Syunik Tegh Community vet, AI specialist, Head of Drug store28 Gavrusha Grigoryan Syunik V. Khndzoresk Community vet29 Artush Malunts Syunik N. Khndzoresk Community vet30 Hamlet Vardazaryan Syunik V. Khndzoresk Community vet31 Suren Abrahamyan Syunik Khnatsakh Community vet32 Masis Mkrtchyan Syunik Vaghatur Community vet33 Robert Grigoryan Syunik Hartashen Community vet34 Seyran Grigoryan Syunik Khoznavar Community vet35 Vrej Asatryan Syunik Qarashen Community vet36 Suren Vardanyan Syunik Sarnakunq Manager of Sarnakunq Farm and Veterinary Service Center, AI

specialist37 Vahagn Sargsyan Syunik Kapan Community vet, Private vet, Head of Drug store, AI specialist38 Armen Orbelyan Syunik Vachagan Privat vet, AI specialist39 Garik Mangasaryan Syunik Khndzoresk AI specialist, Farmer40 Arman Grigoryan Syunik Achanan Farmer41 Sarmen Sargsyan Syunik Syunik Farmer42 Ararat Ordyan Syunik Verishen Head of community, Farmer43 Spartak Minasyan Syunik Akner Head of community, Farmer44 Manvel Amirkhanyan Syunik Brnakot Farmer45 Simon Poghosyan Shirak Gyumri Head of Centre for Veterinary-Sanitary Food Safety and

Phyto-Sanitary Services in Shirak region46 Vardan Papoyan Shirak Azatan Manager of Azatan Farm and Veterinary Service Center, AI

specialist47 Gnel Vardanyan Shirak Amasia Epizootologist of Amasia subregion, AI specialist48 Grigor Gabrielyan Shirak Bavra Epizootologist of Ashotsk subregion, Farmer49 Arsen Alaverdyan Shirak Maralik Epizootologist of Ani subregion50 Zaven Manukyan Shirak Artik Epizootologist of Artik subregion

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51 Karapet Hakobyan Shirak Jrapi Community vet, AI specialist52 Gurgen Aslanyan Shirak Qaraberd Community vet, AI specialist53 Hrant Torosyan Shirak Marmashen Community vet, AI specialist54 Andranik Vardanyan Shirak Berdashen Community vet, AI specialist55 Paruyr Hovhannisyan Shirak Hartashen Community vet56 Suren Gevorgyan Shirak Panik AI specialist57 Samvel Voskanyan Shirak Haykavan Farmer58 Artak Stepanyan Shirak Meghrashat Farmer59 Ashot Bakhmakhchyan Shirak Azatan Farmer60 Aramayis Bilbulyan Shirak Jajur Farmer61 Raya Tadevosyan Shirak Jajur Farmer62 Nerses Hakobyan Shirak Hatsik AI specialist, Farmer63 Suren Sargsyan Shirak Hatsik Farmer64 Alexan Gabrielyan Shirak Bavra Farmer65 Jemma Grigoryan Shirak Akhuryan Community vet66 Susanna Alikhanyan Shirak Azatan Community vet67 Armen Jaghinyan Lori Bovadzor Epizootologist of Stepanavan subregion68 Robert Poghosyan Lori Stepanavan State Food Safety Service Lead specialist of Lori region69 Abraham Galstyan Lori Lernahovit Epizootologist of Tashir subregion70 Karen Melikyan Lori Vanadzor State Food Safety Service Lead specialist of Lori region71 Armen Mosinyan Lori Vahagni Epizootologist of Gugarq subregion72 Aram Martirosyan Lori Alaverdi Epizootologist of Alaverdi subregion73 Tigran Badalyan Lori M. Parni Epizootologist of Spitak subregion74 Bagrat Jaghinyan Lori Stepanavan Head of Drug store75 Volodya Eghiazaryan Lori Stepanavan Community vet76 Karen Muradyan Lori Sverdlov Community vet77 Albert Adoyan Lori Katnarat Community vet78 Masis Poghosyan Lori Tashir Community vet, AI specialist79 Samvel Galstyan Lori Privolnoe Community vet, AI specialist80 Sargis Hakobyan Lori Vanadzor Community vet81 Karen Malaqyan Lori Margahovit Community vet82 Robert Davtyan Lori Karmir Aghek Farmer, AI specialist83 Garegin Ayvazyan Lori Gyulagarak Farmer84 Karen Mardoyan Lori Katnarat AI specialist, Farmer85 Emil Simonyan Tavush Ijevan Head of Tavush Vet lab, Private vet, AI specialist86 Vasil Galstyan Tavush Ijevan State Food Safety Service Lead specialist of Tavush region87 Arthur Petrosyan Tavush Ijevan State Food Safety Service Lead specialist of Tavush region88 Hovhannes Hovhannisyan Tavush Dilijan State Food Safety Service Lead specialist of Tavush region89 Norik Gishchyan Tavush Noyemberyan State Food Safety Service Lead specialist of Tavush region90 Andranik Qosakyan Tavush Berd State Food Safety Service Lead specialist of Tavush region91 Radik Araqelyan Tavush Berd Epizootologist of Berd subregion92 Tatul Tovmasyan Tavush Dilijan Epizootologist of Dilijan subregion93 Azat Khachikyan Tavush Noyemberyan Epizootologist of Noyemberyan subregion94 Ashot Naghdalyan Tavush Ijevan Epizootologist of Ijevan subregion95 Seryoja Bozinyan Tavush Sevqar Community vet96 Ararat Shahnazaryan Tavush Sevqar Community vet97 Hmayak Nazaryan Tavush Kirants Head of community98 Hovsep Amirkhanyan Tavush Ditavan AI specialist, farmer99 Simon Mantashyan Tavush Koti AI specialist

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ANNEX 2. Questionnaires

NN Name, surname Address Phone Age Sex Education year of graduation Work Experience Community (covered by vet) cattle sheep/goat swine poultry horse/dunkey bee buffalo rabbit12

Number of livestock Region

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RegionCommunityName, surname

1 Do you have a vet in the community ?

2 Do you call a private vet when you face a problem ?

3 What kind of services are provided by private vet?

4 What other type of private vet services are required for your farming ?

5 Do you use Artificial Insemination in your farm?

RegionCommunityName, surname

1 Please identify the quality of existing private vet services 1. Excellent2. Very good3. Good

2 Do you provide AI service ?YesNo

3 Do you have all necessary tools and accessories to provide vet service ?YesNo

4 Do you have access to high quality vet medicines?YesNo

5 if you provide AI service, do you have access to AI tools?YesNo

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ANNEX 3. Number of livestock in targeted regions

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31

32

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ANNEX 4. Photos made during visits to targeted regions

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