March 20, 2006

Indian poultry owners to cull healthy birds to cut costs

Hoping to cut their losses after the bird flu scare, poultry owners in Nasik district of Maharashtra have decided to cull healthy birds.

Since bird flu was detected at Navapur and later in Jalgaon districts of the state, people in other parts of the state have given up eating chicken and eggs.

As a result, stock of birds and eggs are accumulating in farms, Shrikrishna Gangurde, president of Nasik District Poultry Owners Association said. Due to a lack of space in the farms to keep the birds, farmers have decided to cull them instead, he said.

Around 25 to 30 percent of the birds would be culled, while production of chickens have already been halted, highlighting the devastating impact bird flu has had on the district.

State Animal Husbandary officials who collected samples after some dead birds were found there confirmed that the birds died from  'Ranikhet' disease" and not bird flu.

There are 934 poultry farms in the Nasik district rearing a total of 6 million birds.