May 9, 2006

 

Philippines to set compensation value in case of bird flu

 

 

The Philippines plans to establish a compensation value for affected poultry raisers in the event of an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus in the country, Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban said Monday (May 8).

 

Panganiban said the country's bird flu task force is set to meet next week to discuss the issue.

 

The decision to determine a compensation value follows an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum on bird flu in Danang, Vietnam, which Panganiban attended.

 

"We need to come up with a (compensation value) to avoid misdeclaration of infection," Panganiban told reporters.

 

The department is considering compensating farmers 35 peso, or about 68 US cents, for every chicken that may be culled in the case of an outbreak.

 

The prevailing farm-gate price for chicken is 65-75 peso/kg.

 

"The amount of (compensation) should be lower than the market price so that poultry raisers would tend to their farms to prevent infection," Panganiban said.

 

Poultry farms in Thailand that were affected by the virus were paid as much as US$1 for each chicken that was culled.

 

However, the Thai government now believes its compensation value was too high, which led poultry farmers to falsely declare infections, Panganiban said.

 

The Philippines is one of the few South-east Asian countries that managed to remain free of H5N1 bird flu.