AVIAN INFLUENZA KILLS ONE MILLION BIRDS- FEDERAL GOVT. DOLES OUT N145m IN ASSIST By Jacob Aguomba.

The first few weeks of 2015 came with a big challenge for agripreneurs. Poultry farm workers and several members of the farmers/investors communities are now counting their losses over the latest outbreak of the bird-killer virus, widely known as Avian Influenza. The pandemic, according to industry watchers, has claimed over one million birds in poultry farms across the country starting from Kano and Lagos states just as the Federal government has promised succor of N145 million naira to affected farmers.

While poultry farmers in Abia, Rivers, Imo and Bayelsa states are battling with the new out-break of the dreaded bird flu epidemic, reports from Lagos have also confirmed that many poultry farms have already been ravaged by the new influx of the epidemic with the Northern parts of the country not being spared as bird flu reportedly killed their thousands of chickens.

The Lagos state was promptly to attend to the issue as the Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Prince Gbolahan Lawal in a press conference held on 16^th, January confirmed the incidence of high death of birds in the state with proof of positive test from National Veterinary Research Institute in VOM,  attesting to the symptoms of H5 strain of the Avian influenza, but added curtainment is already  in place through collaboration with the health ministry, Lagos chapter, National Poultry Association, National Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), and birds sellers association in order to stop the spread.

Also on Tuesday January 20, the Rivers state government, in a statement, acknowledged the outbreak of bird flu in the state. The disease had attacked several private and state-run poultry farms in the state. The statement also advised the owners of affected farms to quickly adopt rescue measures to salvage whatever is left of their farms while those whose farms are not yet affected should immediately deploy standard preventive procedures to protect their poultries. 

Speaking to Food and Farm News during the week, a veterinary doctor, Prince C. Igwe, described Bird Flu as a contagious disease that attack poultry farms especially old set-ups that are invariably due for retooling. “It is usually an epidemic that is preventable and farm owners could adopt protective measures which may include the administration of antibiotic drugs on the birds and or the use of disinfectants to cleanse and sanitize their farms”.

Dr. Igwe also alerted farmers to the even more dangerous dimension of the effect of bird flu on human beings. “Let people know that they should also protect themselves from the side effects of the disease. Farm owners or attendants should wash their hands thoroughly with soap immediately after working in the farms or after each close contact.” The Vet further advised farmers to visit Veterinary offices, whether governments run or private to seek advice and buy the appropriate antibiotic drugs to protect their birds.

Meanwhile the Abia state chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Chief Donlop Okoro has called on the government of Chief Theodore Orji to assist poultry farmers in the state to save their birds to prevent huge losses which the new outbreak of bird flu portends. Chief Okoro said AFAN has set up a sensitization desk at its head office in Umuahia to advise farmers on the standard protection measures necessary to protect their investments in the poultry sub sector. “The state government should step in immediately to help contain the epidemic to avoid a situation where farmers in the state may relapse into extreme poverty which had been their lot before the advent of the federal inspired Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme”. 

The federal ministry of agriculture, on January 21 released a statement which implied that there were minor incidences of bird flu in some parts of the country and that measures were being taken to contain the outbreak. However, the minister of agriculture and rural development Dr. Akinwumi Adesina told a meeting of state agriculture commissioners and other stakeholders in Abuja last week that the federal government would compensate 39 poultry farms in 11 states with N145.45 million at N1, 450.00 per bird. The 39 farms in the scheduled list for compensation are in Kano, Gombe, Plateau, Jigawa, Ogun, Imo, Oyo, Rivers, Delta and Edo states.  

In Aba, the Enyimba City whose environs is famous as the food basket of Abia and some neighboring states, the epidemic has already taken a large toll on the fortunes of poultry farmers. Mrs. Grace Adindu, a poultry farmer told Food and Farm News in tears last Tuesday that she had lost a third of her 2000 birds before she realized the problem was actually an epidemic. Asked how she finally found that the birds were dying of bird flu, Mrs. Adindu said, “We have this circle of friends who invested monies borrowed from our small scale thrift and cooperative society. 

We meet on regular dates to exchange ideas and monitor the progress and discuss progress or whatever difficulties that arise in the business. These regular meetings are very important as many of us were going into poultry for the first time. It was during one of these meetings that I reported the frequent death of my birds and I was advised to call our veterinary doctor. He came a week after my call; he had been out of town but by the time he came around, most of the birds had been destroyed and his diagnosis confirmed what we had all suspected. My birds were just three months old. And now this Avian Influenza has set me back seriously. The real headache is that I don’t know how I can pay back the loan”. She is not alone in this quagmire as she confirms, following a question, “Yes, several members of our group suffered similar losses and it’s all very painful.”