February 4, 2005

 

 

Vietnam suspends duck and quail breeding, halts poultry development before Tet

 

The Vietnamese government has just asked bird flu-hit localities to temporarily cease the incubation of fowl eggs, the production of baby poultry and the additional raising of waterfowls such as ducks, geese and quails, local newspaper Youth reported Friday.

 

The government has also assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to determine the time for the temporary ceasing, the Ministry of Finance to hasten process of granting state monies slated for anti-bird flu activities to localities, and the State Bank of Vietnam to deal with difficulties faced by poultry raisers.

 

In response to the government's instruction, Ho Chi Minh City has already decided to stop raising fowls, including fighting cocks, in its urban districts from Feb. 6, and to halt the raising of ducks city-wide for one year from Feb. 7 after turning live ducks into frozen meat and culling affected ones. Municipal officials appeal the city's residents to apply a "four no" policy - no eating, no transporting, no selling and no raising fowl without quarantine certificates.

 

Bird flu is tending to cool down, Vietnam's Department of Animal Health said, noting that 59 communes of 17 cities and provinces have detected no new outbreaks for three weeks. The disease has hit 33 localities nationwide since January, killing and leading to the forced culling of roughly 1.2 million fowls.

 

Since late December 2003, 17 local people have contracted the bird flu virus H5N1, of whom 12 have died. It has also discovered that a 25-year-old Cambodian woman, who died in late January after being admitted to a Vietnamese hospital, had been infected with the virus.

 

Vietnam said it had suspended the breeding of ducks and quails to combat the deadly bird flu outbreak which has spread to 33 of the country's 64 cities and provinces.

 

The Prime Minister ordered the suspension effective immediately, Bui Quang Anh, head of the Ministry of Agriculture's Animal Health Department told AFP.

 

"The virus can exist longer in ducks and quails. On the other hand, ducks are raised on water which make it difficult for us to control", he said, adding that no decision had been made on how long the suspension would last.

 

Earlier this week, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said that water fowl, particularly ducks, were reservoirs for the infection.

 

"The chances for spill over from ducks inhabiting the vast wetlands to poultry production units in villages or on commercial farms need to be significantly decreased," the agencies said in a common statement.

 

"Strict biosecurity measures need to be applied throughout the poultry production chain, from farms and smallholdings to distribution channels, markets and retailers."

 

Vietnam's southern business capital Ho Chi Minh City had already begun killing ducks to limit the risk to humans, officials said.

 

On Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat sent a letter to the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, seeking international help in its battle to overcome the worsening epidemic and to prepare a long-term plan to tackle the killer disease.

 

The virus has claimed 13 lives in Vietnam since December 30 and 33 since the end of 2003. Twelve people have also died in Thailand from the virus that has swept Asia since December 2003.

 

With preparations for traditional Tet celebrations underway in Vietnam and chicken traditionally considered as an important source of meat, many Vietnamese are finding it hard not to include the bird among their festive dishes.

 

Most Vietnamese have resorted to buying chilled chicken meat from the supermarkets, which display assurances of quality and safety, rather than the more traditional live chickens founding local markets.