July 24, 2006

Indonesia vows to compensate farmers for bird flu culls

Indonesia's vice president on Thursday (Jul 20) called on local authorities to follow poultry culling orders in bird flu-infected areas and vowed to compensate farmers.

"If the central government says stamp it out, then that means ... stamp it out," Vice President Jusuf Kalla told reporters in the capital Jakarta.

Bird flu started ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003. Indonesia has been criticised by some for not carrying out widespread culling, something the government has repeatedly said it could not afford to do.

Kalla said sometimes government orders to slaughter birds in infected areas are simply ignored by local authorities. "This is dangerous to all of us," he said.