April 30, 2012

Newcastle Disease has claimed an estimated 44 million broilers in Pakistan for the last five months, according to speakers during a meeting at the University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences (UVAS) in Lahore, Pakistan.

Punjab Agriculture and Livestock Minister, Ahmad Ali Aulakh, presided the meeting. Forestry, Wildlife and Fishery Secretary, Shahnawaz Badar, Livestock Dairy Development Department Additional Secretary, Khalid Awais Ranjha, Pakistan Poultry Association chairman, Dr Arshad Hanif, and veterinary scientists attended the meeting.

The vice chancellor of UVAS, Dr Talat Naseer Pasha, said that in Punjab alone the cost to poultry farms amounted to PKR6 billion (US$1.4 million).

The VC said that the tremendous losses the industry incurred were due to a number of factors: the proximity of the stricken farms to one another, the lack of farm management skills, and the low bio-security. He further said that UVAS is currently coming up with solutions for countering future outbreaks and, with the help of the Veterinary Research Institute and Pakistan Poultry Association, developing a vaccine against Newcastle Disease.

Punjab Agriculture and Livestock Minister, Aulakh, said veterinarians should chalk out a strategy to eradicate Newcastle Disease.