MHSC
Senior Moderator
<table width="100%"><tbody><tr><td>Bird flu: Govt suspends compensation to farmers</td></tr><tr><td> ? 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He said that the disease was no longer active in the country except in Lagos State where a confirmed outbreak was reported last month.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.
</td></tr><tr><td>http://www.thetidenews.com/article.a...&qrColumn=NEWS</td></tr></tbody></table>
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.
</td></tr><tr><td>http://www.thetidenews.com/article.a...&qrColumn=NEWS</td></tr></tbody></table>