Bird flu scare: Hatcheries at the verge of closure

The situation is caused by lack of patronage in the state arising from the fear of contraction of the disease.Already, the hatchery is at the verge of closure owing to the situation in the state. A staff of the firm, Mrs. Rose who took Daily Trust round the hatchery said that since the fear started […]

The situation is caused by lack of patronage in the state arising from the fear of contraction of the disease.
Already, the hatchery is at the verge of closure owing to the situation in the state. A staff of the firm, Mrs. Rose who took Daily Trust round the hatchery said that since the fear started creeping in, buyers have stopped coming to them and that is why such number of chicken could not be sold.
She said that the hatchery which produces between 40-50,000 birds which it sold same day, could only produce far less that number, regretting that a bird that used to cost N180 is now sold at N50.
Another female staff described the situation as unfortunate, adding that their salaries are now being owned by the management.
She said that the firm has been deserted by buyers because of the panic caused by the news of bird flu.
Reacting to the situation, a member of the Poultry Association of Nigeria, PAN, Imo State, Mr. Linus Iregbulem, who is the owner of Elechy Poultry Integrated Farm, said that the state has not actually suffered from the disease since the outbreak, but lamented the fear has forced the people away from patronising the poultry industry.
He called on the state government to intervene so as to immediately stem the fear.
The first private veterinary doctor East of the Niger and General Manager Gofons Veterinary Centres, Owerri, Dr. Godwin Ngozi Offor, confirmed that the spirit of panic of the bird flu has adversely affected the poultry industry in the state especially in the area of drop in sales of day-old chicks in all parts of the country.
He said: “The drop in the sale of the birds is general around the country.”
He expressed optimism that the spirit of the bird flu is gradually dying down because of the way people are going about it.
Dr. Offor who blamed the cause of the fear to the news of outbreak of bird flu that occurred first in Nigeria in 2006 that has pathogenic effect than the present one, said that the secret of the present outbreak is that the virus is milled because it is a zoonotic disease.