February 16, 2006

Hong Kong poultry farmers to switch to mushrooms

The Hong Kong government is giving lectures on growing mushrooms for chicken farmers after confiscating their poultry because of bird flu concerns, said the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department on Feb 15.

Two seminars by the department on mushroom and greenhouse cultivation techniques will be offered in the week ending Feb 17.

The department said the move is an effort to help chicken farmers find alternatives to poultry farming.

The government banned poultry-raising last week and collected chickens, ducks and other fowl from small farms and villages on Feb 13.

This caused anguish among village residents as many of them are elderly and have raised poultry their whole lives.