Bird flu contained, curbs lifted in Kerala

Safe to consume egg and meat of chicken, ducks: Minister

The State government has lifted the restrictions imposed on the transportation and consumption of poultry in the wake of the avian influenza outbreak, following the successful containment of the H5NI virus in the affected areas.

Minister for Animal Husbandry K.P. Mohanan told the media here on Wednesday that the H5N1 virus responsible for the outbreak reported from parts of Alappuzha, Kottayam, and Pathanamthitta districts had been contained. “The affected areas have been disinfected. With this, all the restrictions imposed on the transportation and consumption of poultry and poultry products have been lifted,” he said. The Minister said it was safe to consume the egg and meat of chicken and ducks reared in the area.

The government, he said, had formulated an action plan to promote scientific methods of poultry farming and helped the farmers whose birds were culled to contain the spread of the disease. As many as 2.76 lakh ducks were culled across the three districts, in a massive operation. The government also released an assistance of Rs.4.18 crore to compensate the farmers who had lost their birds.

The Minister said the action plan would focus on providing bank loans and insurance for farmers and establishing new hatcheries in Alappuzha and Kottayam. All poultry farmers, duck farms, and hatcheries would be registered and licenced.

The government would set up a hatchery- cum- brooder complex and parent stock farm with the capacity to produce 10-lakh ducklings every year.

Mr. Mohanan said it had been decided to equip the Avian Disease Investigation Laboratory at Thiruvalla with Level 3 bio-security measures and upgrade it to the standards of the National High Security Animal Disease Laboratory at Bhopal. A duck farming research centre would be established in Kuttanad to promote modern methods of duck farming and disease prevention. Standards would be prescribed for private hatcheries.

The action plan also included an avian disease vigilance unit to keep a tab on the health status of birds in Kuttanad.

Mr. Mohanan said a monitoring system would be put in place for monitoring migratory birds that act as carriers of the avian influenza virus.