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Bird flu takes toll on poultry industry

Sohel Parvez
Renewed attacks of avian influenza on the poultry industry cut chicken production and hiked prices of meat and eggs.
The weekly production of day-old chicks fell by half to 46 lakh in the last three months from 91 lakh a year ago due to avian influenza or bird flu attacks at farms or hatcheries, according to an estimate of poultry breeders.
In the wake of a fall in farming, egg prices rose 32 percent to Tk 34-Tk 36 for every four pieces yesterday from Tk 26-Tk27 in the beginning of the year.
Prices of broiler chicken increased 22 percent to Tk150-Tk 160 per kilogramme during the same period, according to data from theTrading Corporation of Bangladesh.
“The situation is alarming,” said Moshiur Rahman, president of Breeders Association of Bangladesh.
More parent stock farms got affected this year compared with the previous year, Rahman said.
"It means that there is a shortfall in production of day-old chicks that are needed for farming. It may take a year to fill the supply deficit," he said. It is the fifth year the bird flu attacks have been ravaging the poultry industry, a key job provider in rural and semi-urban areas.
Over the past years since 2007, half of nearly 150,000 poultry farms have been facing losses due to bird flu attacks, forcing tens of thousands of people out of jobs, according to MM Khan, secretary general of Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association (BPIA).
To overcome the crisis, industry operators want the government to conduct regular vaccination but the government is yet to respond, Khan said.
He said the virus had spread throughout the country affecting all types of farms, including the government-owned farms and private sector hatcheries.
“The attacks of avian influenza have further worsened the situation this year," he said. Daily egg production tumbled to 1.5 crore pieces against the requirement of 3 crore pieces.
The poultry industry operators
claimed that the bird flu attacks seem more severe this year.
But the government data found only 12 cases of outbreaks at 17 commercial poultry farms since the beginning of 2012.
The government statistics on bird flu attacks do not reflect the reality, said Rahman, also the chief of Paragon Poultry. "We oppose the estimate prepared by the government."
Poultry operators said most poultry farmers refrain from reporting bird flu outbreaks to the authority due to the delays and hassles in getting compensation from the government.
Instead, most of the affected farmers sell out their birds to traders as soon as they detect symptoms of bird flu attacks in their flocks.
But these attacks remain unnoticed due to poor monitoring and surveillance by the government agencies, which not only increase the risk for humans to be afflicted by it but also worsen the overall AI situation further, they added.
This year, three workers of a live bird market in Dhaka have been found infected by the AI virus.
Asked, Ashraf Ali, director general of DLS, did not want to comment on the
poultry industry operators estimate.
"What we can do if they do not report to us," he said replying to why and how the two estimates differ so much.
Rahman said not-so-strict surveillance and monitoring by the government gives rise to such anomalous incidence reports.
Khan of BPIA said: "Bird flu outbreaks that have been reported so far are just a fraction of the reality on the ground."
“It is a very unfortunate situation. Now people will have to bear the brunt of increased prices of poultry as well as the dread of the disease.”