The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Poultry sector leaders find government's ineptitude as the main reason behind the outbreak of bird flu in an epidemic form that has recently put the Tk 8 thousand crore industry at stake.

"The government policy do not allow private sector to import any antiviral or take any preventive measure against bird flu. The livestock department of the government is deliberately destroying the poultry sector," said Dr MM Khan, Technical Adviser of the Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association yesterday while talking to this correspondent.

Import of antiviral or diagnosis by the private sector is banned from the very beginning. The government is not listening to or taking any of the measures recommended by the industry leaders.

Dr MM Khan said the livestock department have not conducted any survey in the last three years, did not educate or raise awareness among the poultry owners and never diagnosed to check if any virus attack was in the offing.

He said nearly 50 lakh people were involved in the poultry sector. In the last three years half of the total 1.5-lakh farms have closed down due to attack of avian influenza and other bacteria. A number of workforces of the sector have already become jobless due to the closure.

Secretary General of the association Syed Abu Siddique said nearly 100 farms were affected by bird flu and so far 3.5 lakh fowls were culled across the country.

He said the livestock department is not working properly. There is no monitoring system especially in the upzila and the remote areas.

The livestock department should have more vigilance so that attack of any virus or bacteria can be prevented from the very beginning, Siddique said.

He said the industry is passing through a very critical moment. More effective steps are needed from the government side to save the sector.

The secretary general informed that nearly 30 teams of the association were working across the country for the last four years to raise awareness among the stakeholders.

He also said the poultry sector can only be saved if both the government and private sector work hand in hand.

Meanwhile, the Special Assistant to the CA for Fisheries and Livestock Ministry Manik Lal Samaddar recently requested owners of poultry farms to come forward to tackle the situation saying that it is not possible to overcome the situation alone by the government.