700 000 birds culled since outbreak of Avian flu ? WHO

[hawkeye]

700 000 birds culled since outbreak of Avian flu ? WHO

October 25, 2006, 2 hours, 6 minutes and 37 seconds ago.

By www.andnetwork .com

Around 700,000 birds have been culled to date in Nigeria since the outbreak of Avian flu in February this year, according to a WHO official.

Dr. Chijioke Osakwe, the national professional officer of the WHO, gave the figure Friday in his presentation on ?An overview of Avian influenza in Nigeria? at one-day workshop for the Nigerian Guild of Editors in Enugu.

Osakwe said the birds were culled at the cost of N560 million.

He said the country?s poultry industry had 140 million birds, with ?backyard? poultry farmers accounting for 60 per cent of the business.

The industry contributed nine per cent to the country?s Gross Domestic Product, he said, noting that the contribution was significant in the national economy.

Quoting the World Bank?s prediction of a 800-million-dollar annual loss in the global poultry sector due to the raging bird disease, Osakwe said efforts must be made by all stakeholders and the citizens to stem the spread.

He described bird flu as a virus that did not require a passport to enter any country, calling for an effective campaign to educate the citizens on the need to take precautionary measures.

The WHO official likened Avian flu to the ?Spanish file? which spread across the globe, killing between 20 million and 40 million people in 1918/1919.

Osakwe warned of the grave consequences of the spread of the human strain of bird flu to Nigeria.

The workshop was organised by the Federal Ministry of Information, National Orientation Agency and UNICEF.

The Tide Online

 

[sharon sanders]

Nigeria Minister says 915,650 chickens destroyed

Nigeria Minister says 915,650 chickens destroyed

<TABLE width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>I am not sure that it matters but an earlier report says 915,650.

Thanks to the Bellagio Group for the link.
http://bellagio.typepad.com/



Bird flu: Govt suspends compensation to farmers
</TD></TR><TR><TD>http://www.thetidenews.com/repRec.aspx?qrName=? Saturday, Oct 7, 2006</TD></TR><TR><TD>
The federal government has suspended the payment of compensation to poultry farmers affected by the outbreak of bird flu in the country.
The Director, Livestock and Pest Control at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Junaid Maina, made this known in an interview with newsmen in Abuja, Thursday.
He said that the ministry had cash flow problems and that over N50 million compensation was yet to be paid to the affected farmers.
Maina, however, said that the Ministry of Finance was working to make the money available and that the exercise would continue as soon as this was done.
The director said that at the initial stage of the outbreak, the government approved N400 million for its immediate containment and payment of compensation to affected farmers.
Also speaking to the newsmen, Minister of State for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Otunba Bamidele Dada, confirmed the cash flow problem, saying that the ministry was working in conjunction with its finance counterpart to commence payment.
He said that as at August, a total of 915,650 birds had been destroyed, while N107 million had been paid as compensation.
Dada said that by the end of July 2006, only 14 states and FCT had reported cases of avian flu in a total of 40 local government areas.
He said that the disease was no longer active in the country except in Lagos State where a confirmed outbreak was reported last month.
The minister said that all the suspected poultry farms and markets in Lagos State had been ?decongested, depopulated and decontaminated while bio-security system had been introduced in the areas?.
?I am not saying that we are a free nation, but government has given it what it takes to contain the disease and also introduced the culture of bio-security to safeguard the business, lives and the economy of the nation,? he said.
disease and its local impact on the nation?s food security.
Sharubutu said the government should be consistent in payment because poultry business was a business that had to do with ?gestation period?.
Any little delay can adversely affect all the products in the sector and lead to scarcity of eggs and chicken,? he said.
The NVA President assured all stakeholders of the association?s support in the eradication of the disease adding that it working with the World Animal Health Organisation (OlE) to achieve the objective. The Weekend Tide recalls that in January this year, the first outbreak of avian flu was reported at the Samabawa farms in Kaduna.
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