March 15, 2006

Vietnam may ban poultry breeding in capital for a year
 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has asked the authorities in Ho Chi Minh City to halt poultry rearing until February 2007 as most farms there do not meet veterinary and hygienic requirements currently.

In addition, the heavily populated city will play host to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum this year. Vietnam's international standing would be in jeopardy and there would be financial losses in the millions should a bird flu epidemic break out, the ministry said.  

The City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development had asked the MARD to stop poultry rearing in the city until February 2007 because of the potential for a return of bird flu. The authorities felt that the profits from poultry rearing do not justify the high cost of resuming poultry breeding and bird flu prevention measures should there be another outbreak.

No human cases of bird flu have been detected for the past three months.

However, the Ministry of Health and the MARD are still performing an environmental cleansing programme nationwide this month. The first province to implement a large-scale environmental cleansing campaign is northern Ha Tay Province, which will be followed by central Quang Nam Province and southern Tien Giang Province.