The New Nation - Internet Edition

THERE is a serious allegation that 'backyard poultry is being destroyed in the name of containing bird flu', which the authorities concerned should look into immediately and take the required steps in order to save this sector involving large numbers of people across the country. Speakers at a recent discussion meeting in the city said that culling of chickens in the name of containing bird flu in the developing countries including Bangladesh is nothing but 'a conspiracy to destroy the backyard poultry'.

The participants at the discussion on 'Bird flu situation in Bangladesh and our responsibilities' observed that culling of backyard poultry on pretext of controlling bird flu is what they called 'a part of an international conspiracy to destroy fowls reared in farm houses that would deprive not only farmers, but also affect rural economy greatly. Undoubtedly, the allegation is very serious in nature and deserves to be addressed by the government without any delay with a view to hooking the real culprits working behind here as part of that conspiracy. In the name of containing bird flu some donors reportedly want to destroy the traditional sources of food and help large companies capture the total production system.

Instead of protecting and promoting donor-assisted industrial poultry, the government should go for rural economy based poultry policy for poverty alleviation and develop country's overall economy. About 16,36,303 poultry and 21,84,430 eggs have been destroyed so far in 47 districts under the bird flu campaign and according to the Bangladesh Poultry Industry Association the culling of fowls caused huge loss of about Tk 5,000 crore to the industry - too big an amount for a country like Bangladesh to afford in these difficult days of depressing global economy.