Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) has urged government to subsidise the import of bird flu vaccine and provide free vaccination in flu-hit areas. Central Chairman Abdul Basit, Chairman Abdul Hayee Mehta and Disease Control Committee Convenor Dr Kamal demanded it at a press conference on Monday.
They called for public education programmes to help the public understand the disease. They claimed that since the emergence of the disease there had been no reports of anyone having the virus, even those working in poultry farms. They said the international media had not given this disease so much weight because there were no bird-flu-related human deaths in the past 10 years.
"The virus dies at 60 Celsius degrees while we cook our food from 100 to 120 Celsius degrees leaving no possibility of life of this virus," they said. The association leaders also said there was an effective vaccine available for this disease, controlling it effectively in Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Abbottabad. They said they hoped the outbreak would also be controlled in Karachi.
Basit said over 25000 farms were working in the country, providing jobs to 1.5 million people. Investment in this sector was over Rs 200 billion and Rs 45-50 billion agriculture and bi-products were being used for poultry feed. They said if the poultry sector faced any crisis because of this disease, it would also affect the agricultural sector.
He said reports of bird flu had caused a huge loss to the poultry industry when it broke out in 2004, then in 2005, 2006 and finally in 2007. The outbreaks had forced 40 percent of farmers to close their businesses fuelling an acute shortage of chicken meat and raising the prices from 50 to 70 percent. He said it also deprived the public of a cheaper source of protein.
He claimed that his association had created awareness among poultry farmers since the past four years through seminars and workshops. He said his association had spent Rs 300 million on vaccination. They also called for a law to be enacted to ensure each poultry farm is distanced from each other, adding that the North West Frontier Province had the law was but not any other province.