April 20, 2006

Vietnam wants US$250 million to help poultry industry hit by bird flu

Vietnam wants US$250 million in loans from international donors to help sustain the country's poultry industry, which has been hit hard by bird flu, officials said Thursday (Apr 20).

About US$200 million would be used to improve backyard farms' hygiene and to transform some smaller farms into larger, more commercialised ones, said Hoang Kim Giao, deputy director of the Breeding Department under the Agriculture Ministry.

Another US$50 million would be spent building new slaughterhouses and upgrading older ones, he said.

He said the amount was detailed in Vietnam's bird flu plan, finished this month, and is being discussed with a team of international donors.

More than 30 experts from various UN agencies, the World Bank, the US Agency for International Development, the European Union and other donors are conducting a two-week assessment of Vietnam's progress and helping the country complete its mid- and long-term bird flu and pandemic preparedness strategies.

Hoang Van Nam, deputy director of the Department of Animal Health, said the working mission is a follow-up to a January meeting in Beijing where donors pledged US$1.9 billion to help countries fight the H5N1 bird flu virus and prepare for a possible flu pandemic.

Vietnam has been the country hit hardest by bird flu, which began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003. More than 45 million birds have died or been slaughtered in the communist country as a result of the virus.