Poultry farmers breathe new life

Arafat Ara | Published: January 24, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Poultry industry is almost free from bird flu for more than a year, helping the sector grow anew, industry people said.
They said as the outbreak of avian influenza or bird flu virus has not been found from middle of the 2013, poultry farmers felt encouraged in investing in the sector. Besides, the dropout rates of farms also have declined significantly.
Around Tk 30 billion investments have been made in 18,000 new poultry farms during the period.
Currently, some 93,000 poultry units are in the country, up from 75,000 in the middle of the 2013, marking a 24 per cent growth, according to the farmers.
Following vaccination and proper culling, the propensity of bird flu virus has come down almost at zero level in the country, they said.
The farmers also demanded the government continue the vaccination programme.
They also said not only in the selected areas but it should be introduced all over the country so that the disease can be prevented completely.
Government launched bird flu vaccination at Gazipur and kishoreganj districts in 2012 experimentally.
After that it introduced the programme in other seven districts namely Dhaka, Narsingdi, Narayanganj, Bogra, Joypurhat, Chittagong and Tangail.
Bangladesh Poultry Khamar Rakkha Jatiya Parishad general secretary
Khandker Mohammad Mohsin said for one and a half years, they have not been getting any avian influenza affected bird.
Consumers are now free from health risk of bird flu virus that has created a good impact on the sector, he said.
Mr Mohsin also said expenses relating to medicine and other materials for managing sick birds also came down significantly that has helped increase the industry's turnover.
Dr Anwar Hossain, professor of Microbiology Department of Dhaka University said because of proper culling of sick birds the outbreak of the disease has decreased. Vaccination also helped in containing the bird flu virus, he added.
"But I don't think that the country has completely got rid of the virus. But the virus still remains in a few number of birds," Mr Hossain said. "Besides, India and Nepal are still now struggling with bird flu virus, so Bangladesh is not risk- free yet. It may reappear again as a deadly disease any time".
arafat_ara@hotmail.com