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Nigeria: Bird Flu: Farm Loses N1.5m Chickens
Mohammed Ajah
A farm in Port Hartcourt, Tobi Farms has lost 2,000 chickens worth N1.5 million to what is suspected to be the bird flu pandemic.
The manager of the farm, Mr. Dada Adekunle, who disclosed this to newsmen in Port Harcourt at the weekend, however, denied that his farm was affected by the avian influenza.
Adekunle said the farm was just co-opted because of the three-kilometre radius being used as a parameter by the federal government.
He urged the authorities to increase the compensation measures so that the owners of any affected farms would voluntarily invite them to do away with affected chickens instead of concealing them or secretly taking them to markets to unsuspecting consumers.
The Daily Trust gathered that over 3,000 chickens had so far been killed and buried out of the 12,000 chickens enumerated in all the farms in Bori Camp.
According to the Rivers State Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Avian Influaza, there was a suspected outbreak of the disease in the GRA areas of Port Harcourt.
The leader of the team, Dr. Nwakama Chimele who is a director in the Rivers Ministry of Agriculture, said there was yet no clear confirmation, stressing that the committee was ready to finish its present assignment within three days.
He noted that the exercise had so far been successful despite some logistic problems that impeded it at the beginning.
He said all the farms in Bori Camp had been enumerated and the chickens killed and buried as directed while the farms would be fumigated so as to protect the area from the virus.
Nigeria: Bird Flu: Farm Loses N1.5m Chickens
Mohammed Ajah
A farm in Port Hartcourt, Tobi Farms has lost 2,000 chickens worth N1.5 million to what is suspected to be the bird flu pandemic.
The manager of the farm, Mr. Dada Adekunle, who disclosed this to newsmen in Port Harcourt at the weekend, however, denied that his farm was affected by the avian influenza.
Adekunle said the farm was just co-opted because of the three-kilometre radius being used as a parameter by the federal government.
He urged the authorities to increase the compensation measures so that the owners of any affected farms would voluntarily invite them to do away with affected chickens instead of concealing them or secretly taking them to markets to unsuspecting consumers.
The Daily Trust gathered that over 3,000 chickens had so far been killed and buried out of the 12,000 chickens enumerated in all the farms in Bori Camp.
According to the Rivers State Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Avian Influaza, there was a suspected outbreak of the disease in the GRA areas of Port Harcourt.
The leader of the team, Dr. Nwakama Chimele who is a director in the Rivers Ministry of Agriculture, said there was yet no clear confirmation, stressing that the committee was ready to finish its present assignment within three days.
He noted that the exercise had so far been successful despite some logistic problems that impeded it at the beginning.
He said all the farms in Bori Camp had been enumerated and the chickens killed and buried as directed while the farms would be fumigated so as to protect the area from the virus.