February 17, 2006

Bird flu may halt Nigerian poultry operations for a year

The spread of bird flu across Nigeria may ground poultry operations and put farmers out of business for up to a year, Olayinka Adebogun, CEO of Boar Feeds Nigeria warned.

Bird flu has affected the northern and central parts of the country and is now penetrating its southern parts while poultry farmers are scrambling to cull thousands of chickens and shutting down their farms. 

Farmers throughout the country will be out of business for the next six months if the bird flu goes unchecked and it will take them another six months to reinvest Adebogun said. 

He urged the federal Government to increase compensation to farmers who culled their poultry to help them recover losses so as to encourage them to report bird flu outbreaks in their farms.

Current compensation of N250 (US$1.9) a fowl by the authorities is far below the cost of raising a chick to maturity, Adebogun noted. A day-old chick costs between N120 ($0.93) and N150 (US$1.16), and other costs such as feeding, drugs and management would add another N600 (US$4.65). He stressed that current government compensation rates are inadequate and unless they are raised, farmers might not feel compelled to report incidences and will be forced to sell diseased poultry to the public.