Improving Profits and Safety of Pig Farmers in Bangladesh and China: A Targeted Approach to Reduce Poverty Among Discriminated Minorities

We propose a focused intervention to promote improved pig productivity among rural smallholder pig farmers in Bangladesh and China, targeting farmers who are poor and marginalized, yet have the incentives, experience, and knowledge to leverage productivity improvements. Our interventions will focus on treating pig parasitic diseases and improving neonatal piglet survival. We will first conduct small iterative pilots to optimize the intervention and then evaluate its effectiveness in a randomized controlled trial. We expect that focusing productivity improvements on highly marginalized groups will provide disproportionate benefits in poverty reduction and decrease the human burden of zoonotic diseases. Our project will build a collaboration that engages the broader Stanford faculty and students in two different impoverished settings using approaches from agricultural economics, human zoonotic disease, veterinary medicine and behavioral change to reduce poverty.