Farmers’ attitudes towards antimicrobial use and awareness of antimicrobial resistance: a comparative study among turkey and rabbit farmers

Figures & data

Table 1. Socio-demographic characteristics of the two samples of respondents and characteristics of their farms, both expressed with percentage values (%, N = 117 turkey farmers and 41 rabbit farmers from North-Eastern Italy).

Respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics
	Turkey farmers		Rabbit farmers
Gender^a	N = 115		N = 40
Male		85		95
Female		15		5
Age groups^b	N = 100		N = 35
<41 years		33		37
41–55 years		46		46
>55 years		21		17
Level of education^c	N = 115		N = 40
Primary school		5		2
Middle school diploma		25		38
Vocational qualification		22		13
High school diploma		39		45
Bachelor degree or higher		8		2
Other		1		0
Years of work as farmer^d	N = 116		N = 38
<5		9		13
5–15		25		24
16–25		20		24
>25		46		39
Characteristics of the farms
(Only for turkey farmers) Numbers of turkeys bred	N = 109		N/A
<10,000		22
10,000–18,000		28
18,001–30,000		27
>30,000		23
(Only for rabbit farmers) Number of does bred	N/A		N = 40
< 763				25
763–1,000				30
1,001–2,374				20
>2,374				25
(Only for rabbit farmers) Number of fattening rabbits	N/A		N = 35
<5,000				20
5,000–6,000				31
6,001–11,000				26
>11,000				23
(Only for rabbit farmers) Birth bands			N = 40
7 days				2
14 days				10
21 days				38
Single band				50

N/A = not applicable; ^a2 turkey farmers and 1 rabbit farmer did not report their sex; ^b17 turkey farmers and 6 rabbit farmers did not report their age; ^c2 turkey farmers and 1 rabbit farmer did not report their title of study; ^d1 turkey farmer and 3 rabbit farmers did not report their years of experience

Table 2. Farmers’ data on their perception of antibiotic usage and AMR in farms (%^a, N = 117 turkey farmers and 41 rabbit farmers from North-Eastern Italy).

Questions	Turkey farmers	Rabbit farmers
The quantity of antibiotics used in the farm is:
Limited	25	19
Fair, in line with veterinarians’ recommendations	72	76
Sometimes excessive	3	5
Unknown	1	0
The outcome of antibiotic treatment is:
Always resolutive	11	12
Often resolutive	74	73
Sometimes resolutive	14	15
Seldom resolutive	0	0
Never resolutive	1	0
Antibiotic treatment affects the economy of the farm
Very heavily	2	10
Heavily	24	49
Only lightly	55	41
Not at all	20	0
Antibiotic usage in the farms could be decreased:
Yes	47	78
No	53	22
Antibiotic usage in the farm could be decreased by^b
5–10%	24	16
20–30%	38	31
50%	5	25
>50%	2	6
Unknown	31	22
The main factors that can contribute to decrease antibiotic use are: (possible more answers)
Animal genetic improvement	50	24
Feed quality improvement	35	63
Housing microclimate improvement	37	63
Marketing of more effective drugs	21	17
Other	2	0
Antibiotics may affect the quality of meat products:
Very heavily	28	29
Heavily	47	39
Only lightly	20	32
Not at all	5	0
Antibiotic use in farms may influence human health:
Yes	56	63
No	44	37
Factors that influence the development of antibiotic resistance in humans (possible more answers)^c
Use of antibiotics administered to humans when a health issue occurs	60	60
Use of antibiotics administered in farms	17	37
Ingestion of resistant bacteria present in contaminated fresh products	15	6
Other	2	3

a Rounded percentages may not equal 100; ^bOnly for those responding positively to the previous question (i.e. 55 turkey farmers and 32 rabbit farmers); ^cOnly for those who stated that they know what AMR is (i.e. 82 turkey farmers and 35 rabbit farmers)

Figure 1. Perceived level of AMR hazard for bred animals and public health according to turkey and rabbit farmers’ opinions respectively (n_turkey=82, n_rabbit=35). Survey conducted in North-Eastern Italy. AMR: antimicrobial resistance.

Table 3. Farmers’ training wishes (%, N = 117 turkey farmers and 41 rabbit farmers from North-Eastern Italy).

Questions	Turkey farmers	Rabbit farmers
Are you interested in deepening the AMR topic?
Very interested	29	44
Quite interested	60	51
Little interested	7	5
Not interested	4	0
Which information tools do you prefer for having information?^a (possible more answers)
Classroom-based training course/meeting	35	56
Online training courses	16	12
Paper documents (books, brochures, etc.)	26	7
Veterinarian of the farm	48	42
Category associations	4	7

a Only for those responding positively to the previous question (i.e. 112 turkey farmers and 41 rabbit farmers)