January 30, 2004

 

 

Vietnam Slow In Culling Sick Birds

 

The Vietnamese authorities have admitted being slow in culling sick chickens in more than half of its provinces.

 

"The measures we applied have been a bit slow. We haven't been very serious in implementing the veterinary decree," Bui Quang Anh, director of the Veterinary Department at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, told Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper.

 

In addition, Anh said Vietnamese farmers have been reluctant to kill poultry for economic reasons.

 

The government has been providing only minimal compensation for culled chickens - up to a third of their market value - to farmers hit by the disease.

 

"Because we are poor, we have been hesitant in handling (the culling of birds)," he said.

 

As of Friday, bird flu had spread to 34 of the country's 64 provinces. Some 4.75 million infected poultry have died or been culled in a bid to stop the spread of the disease, the government reported. Another 2 million poultry have been killed as a preventive measure in Ho Chi Minh City, the country's most populous city.

 

Anh said the government must intensify efforts to stop the bird flu from spreading among poultry.

 

"I see the need for tougher measures, even if (we) may have to sacrifice to start from the beginning in order to have a sustainable breeding industry," he said.

 

"If we need to cull all poultry throughout the country, that would be for the government to decide. We all know that it would be safer and we can eliminate the sources of the disease if a mass cull is carried out, but again, we still need to take into consideration the economic factor."

 

Vietnam is currently considering culling all poultry in the worst-hit provinces in the southern Mekong Delta, he said.

 

In recent weeks, Vietnam has stepped up the slaughter of infected chickens, disinfecting market areas, and manning checkpoints to stop the transport of poultry in the country.