April 12, 2006

UN agency to spend US$500,000 against bird flu in South America

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization is prepared to give US$500,000 to help fund bird flu prevention projects in South America, Brazil's Agriculture Ministry said Tuesday (Apr 11).

Jose Graziano da Silva, an FAO representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, said the UN would provide the money for animal sanitation and disease prevention programmes in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. Graziano was in Brasilia Tuesday to attend a meeting on food transportation.

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has not been found to date in South America.

The chicken market is responsible for 13 percent of the region's total agricultural value, according to FAO. Brazil is the world's leading chicken exporter by volume.