--diagnose the fowls instead of culling
BHUBANESWAR: After the bird flu terror and break out of H5N1 virus among the fowls and crows in the State, peoples in some places of the State have left consuming chicken and egg fearing the flu disease which affected the poultry industry business of Rs 1,000 crore in the State, said the members of the Odisha Poultry Farmers Association (OPFA) here at a meeting on Wednesday.
The members also opined that the Government has taken various initiatives to control the bird flu in the State and also culled thousands of fowls at Kerang and Bahanada during the break out, but neither the Government nor the experts stressed on immunisation of the birds or diagnosing the affected fowls instead of just culling.
After the media reports and Government preparedness people got scared to consume chicken and egg, which affected the poultry industry upon which 30,000 farmers depend directly and 10 lakh people and families depend indirectly. Just culling the fowls is not a solution, Government should think about the farmers and the sensitive poultry industry as the huge loss is affecting the farmers’ families directly. Some farmers have taken bank loan from different banks, which is a major stress for the farmers to pay the loan. Farmers’ suicide has not been ruled out, the members added.
The association informed that no human death due to bird flu yet been reported from the country and no one is affected also and consuming of chicken and egg by our traditional method of cooking the meat at 70 degree centigrade heat is safe.
The OPFA demanded that the Government should take appropriate steps to immunise the birds and for the adequate care, it should initiate modernised farming technique and health facilities for the poultry farms like Andhra Pradesh. It is our fate that we have not a testing laboratory, for which we have to send the samples to Bhopal. On the other hand, the association appealed to the Government, Media and people of the State to help them out.
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