Govt to assess losses suffered by poultry industry

KATHMANDU, Aug 28: The Directorate of Animal Health (DoAH) said that it has formed a special committee to assess financial losses incurred from bird flu virus that spread in the various poultry farms across the country. The DoAH plans to study the immediate and long term impacts of the disease on the poultry industry.



Authorities have culled hundreds of thousands of chickens across the country following the outbreak of disease in various poultry farms. The rapid response teams comprising vet officials and technicians culled over 500, 000 chickens in the Valley in the last six weeks. Moreover, the DoAH has also imposed a ban in the sales of chicken in Bhaktapur and Thankot, Kritipur and Gothatar. The administration has declared the areas as emergency zones and forbid the import of chicken and eggs there. [break]



Officials at DoAH said that the committee comprises vet experts, representative of poultry entrepreneur, officials at the Ministry of Agriculture Development (MoAD) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) will submit its report within a month. “The committee is also mandated to recommend increase of compensation amount to the poultry farmers,” Dr Pradeep Chandra Bhattarai, an official at DoAH, said, adding, “The government is very serious about helping the farmers to sustain the industry.”



A lot of poultry farmers have given up the profession following the outbreak of the disease. Due to the spread of virus, poultry industry, in which people have invested billions of rupees, is on the verge of collapse. Most poultry farmers are in a mood to quit the profession.



Bhattarai said that the committee will also suggest increasing compensation amount. Poultry farmers have been complaining about meager compensation amount provided by the government. Bhattarai said that there are several instances in which the poultry farmers have refused to allow vet officials to cull infected chickens.



Meanwhile, the District Veterinary Office (DVO), Bhaktapur said that it has decided to launch awareness campaign about the risks of bird flu virus in the district as several farmers have been preventing vet officials from destroying chickens. Officials said that they have already destroyed the chickens at poultry farms but have been unable to cull local chickens in the face of opposition locals.

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