The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Some 2,000 chicken traders will be imparted training on checking bird flu and other diseases to ensure bio-security in the city's poultry markets.

The Chief Adviser's Special Assistant Manik Lal Samaddar inaugurated the training programme at Tejgaon chicken market in the city yesterday.

Meanwhile, culling of some 149,453 chickens of bird flu virus-hit Omega Poultry Farm at North Badda in the city was completed yesterday.

The government took the decision to annihilate the largest ever number of chickens Friday night after detection of the deadly avian influenza virus in the Omega Poultry Farm Ltd that had 1.65 lakh chickens. According to the officials of the Bird Flu Control Room, 149,453 chickens of the farm were culled during the three-day drive while the remaining 12,480 died after being affected by the H5N1, virus of bird flu.

The culling started on Saturday evening and completed at 10:00am yesterday, they said.

Meanwhile, under the programme, all the poultry traders will be given training in phases. The chicken traders will be provided with protective gears, including hand-gloves and bleaching powder, disinfectants and sprays for ensuring bio-security, said an official handout.

The trained traders will then make other fellowmen of their surrounding areas aware about the avian influenza.

Manik Lal said, "If bio-security is ensured in poultry markets, then the buyers as well as the sellers will have protection against germs. Besides, the general consumers would be able to buy germ-free chickens, ducks and eggs."

"We will have to save this poultry industry developed with the government and private efforts over the last two decades," he said.

After the sudden death of some chickens at the poultry farm, its staff sent some samples of the dead chickens Wednesday to Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute for test where the presence of deadly H5N1 virus was detected on Thursday.

Later, on Friday night, the government issued orders for culling all the chickens of the farm.

According to the government estimation, some 835,806 chickens of 231 commercial farms and 40 household farms in 43 districts have so far been culled since detection of the avian influenza virus in the country on February 22 last year. So far, the government has provided around Tk two crore to the affected farm owners in compensation.