May 19, 2004

Vietnamese Farmers Receive More Funding For Poultry Restocking

The Farmers' Association in Vietnam on Tuesday received more than 900 million VND (58,000 USD) as funding to help farmers recover their poultry flocks after the bird flu epidemic.

The fund was raised by the staff of the post office sector (866 million VND) and readers of the VietNamNet (60 million VND).

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, bird flu has caused great damage to the country. The number of culled poultry reached more than 43.9 million, accounting for 16.79 percent of the country's total. In addition, the number of culled quails and pigeons totalled 14.76 million and that of poultry eggs, 100.64 million.

The Government had to spend more than 150 billion VND (9.6 million USD) controlling the epidemics that also affected the country's tourism industry and foreign investment.