Poultry Farmers Demand Compensation For Birds Infected With Bird Flu

The Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers has called on the government to compensate farmers whose birds have been destroyed, as part of measures to contain the Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) scare.

Already 2,000 birds have been destroyed on farms at Achimota, Kpone-Katamanso and McCarthy Hill, all in Accra.

At a meeting in Accra, the association called on the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to set up a fund to compensate farmers whose birds would be killed when outbreaks were detected on their farms.

Confirmation

The Noguchi Memorial Institute has confirmed that some birds taken from farms in the affected areas tested positive for the disease. The samples have been flown to Italy for further tests. 

The acting Director of the Veterinary Services Department (VSD), Dr Augustus Ayitey, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the samples had been sent to the international reference library of the World Association of Animal Health in Padova, Italy, for further tests to determine whether the strain of virus was indeed H5N1.

The assurance, however, from both the VSD, Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Ministry of Health is that so far, there has not been any transmission to a human being, therefore, the public should not panic.

However, it is also the fear of the Association of Poultry Farmers that the absence of a fund to compensate its members would discourage them from reporting the disease.

Concerns

According to a local FM station, Joy FM, the Chairman of the association’s Finance Committee, Mr Brobbey Kyei, said, “If farmers who are spending so much are not aware that if they lose their birds, an organisation will give a package, surely they will keep the information to themselves. We will try to contain it ourselves and that will worsen the spread, and that will make the situation bad for any organisation to contain.

“If we could be told that if you have a bird of laying stage to about 30 weeks, you will be given let’s say five cedis, three cedis, whatever figure the government can come out with…that will not let you hide the information if you have it,” he added.

The President of the association, Mr Victor Oppong Adjei, is reported to have asked the public not to panic over the latest development, but continue enjoying chicken, adding, “I want to assure the public that what has happened is not scary; the virus is afraid of heat. So if you boil your chicken very well, you will not have any problem”.

He said the association was educating farmers on strict hygienic measures that need to be implemented on farms so that their poultry are not affected by the disease.
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