Poultry industry under new bird-flu threat due to Indian chicks import

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FHM Humayan Kabir
The government has allowed additional seven local firms to import one-day chicks from bird-flu affected India that might again put the country's struggling poultry industry in danger with a fresh outbreak of avian-influenza virus, experts said Saturday.
Officials said the commerce ministry in a circular in mid-January has permitted seven more local firms to import some 35 million chicks from India without ensuring stringent avian-influenza virus protection measures to those chicks.
Earlier, in December last year, the ministry allowed 17 local importers to import some 83 million one-day chicks from India.
Chairman of Paragon Group Moshiur Rahman said the local poultry farms had faced a blow to run and expand their busi ness due to the deadly bird-flu attack during last couple of years.
They are still trying to recover from the catastrophe, as the imported and smuggled sub-standard Indian chicks and eggs are abundant in the local markets.
He said the government has allowed import of one-day chicks, which have a risk of spreading the avian influenza virus among the local poultry farms, as the neighbouring India is not yet out of danger.
Dr A Saleque, head of programme (agriculture) of BRAC, told the FE that a number of chicks, poultry birds and eggs with bird-flu virus are rampantly being smuggled into Bangladesh's bordering areas and then across the country, posing a serious threat to local farms.
"The Indian poultry birds and eggs, affected by avian influenza virus, are being sold in the country's bordering areas at lower cost. They can cause serious health hazards to the countrymen, besides the struggling domestic farms," he said.
Some Indian newspapers including the Hindu, the Indian Express and the Anandabazar have recently reported that many poultry farms in West Bengal and some other regions of India are still affected with the avian influenza virus.
Opposing the import, the Paragon Group chief said though the commerce ministry has allowed import of 120 million one-day chicks from India, the government has not taken due precautionary measures to protect the local poultry sector.