Bird Flu Likely to Get Worse: Agricultural Official

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Bui Ba Bong warned that bird flu is likely to worsen in Vietnam as many localities have not paid due attention to vaccinating poultry flocks as requested by the Prime Minister.

 

The agriculture official made the warning at a meeting of the Steering Committee for Prevention and Control of Bird Flu in Hanoi on January 9.

 

He pointed out that only a few provinces have been carrying out additional vaccination against bird flu for their poultry, such as the Mekong delta provinces of Dong Thap and Bac Lieu.

 

The Veterinary Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has already provided localities with 4 million doses of vaccine against H5N1 type avian influenza. It will import an additional 250 million doses of vaccine for different types of fowl to meet the demand, Bong said.

 

He added that the Government has dispatched 11 delegations to localities to inspect their preventive work.

 

Bird flu reemerged in Vinh Tuy commune in southern Kien Giang province’s Go Quao district, which neighbors Bac Lieu province, where the disease broke out early December 2006.

 

Since its resurgence, the disease has affected 40 communes and wards of 15 districts in the southern provinces of Ca Mau, Bac Lieu and Hau Giang, causing the cull of more than 42,400 poultry.

 

According to Deputy Minister Bong, the Government pays farmers an average of VND15,000 for each culled fowl and VND3,000 for the culling of an infected one.

(Labor, Vietnam Economic Times, Liberated Saigon)