Bird Flu:Plateau Govt closes 60 Poultry Farms

The Plateau Government has closed down 60 poultry farms and destroyed more than 190, 000 birds affected by bird flu across the state.

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Director, veterinary services, in the state’s Ministry of Agriculture, Dr.Doris Bitrus said that the disease had continued to spread.

She attributed that spread to the non-compensation of farmers, whose farms were affected by the disease last year.

According to her, aside the issue of some farmers not keeping to biosecurity measures, the major reason behind the fast spread of the disease is the non-payment of compensation to farmers affected by the disease in 2015.

“In the past, farmers used to report the outbreaks, but since compensations are not forthcoming, most of them prefer to sell their sick birds to desperate marketers to cushion their loses rather than wait on government that will promise and fail.

“With such distrust, controlling or curbing further spread of the hydra-headed disease will be pretty difficult,” she said.