August 28, 2007

 

Lifting of poultry ban in Bali worries experts

 

 

Experts fear the lifting of a ban on imports of on chicken meat and day-old chicks (DOCs) in Jembrana Regency in Bali, Indonesia would further worsen the bird flu situation on the resort island, which has seen two people die from the disease in the past two weeks.

 

The ban was lifted after complaints from Bali poultry farmers that the ban is restricting their business, The Jakarta Post reported. Bali is a tourist resort island for which tourism is critical. Some hotels and restaurants have taken chicken off the menu since bird flu struck.

 

Udayana University virologist Ngurah Mahardika said even if day-old-chicks (DOC) are bred from vaccinated broilers, it could still carry the H5N1 bird flu virus. He further argued that the health certificates accompanying shipments of chicks and chicken meats were no guarantee they were free from the virus. 

 

Most of the DOCs supplied to Bali comes from Java.

 

The ban enacted after the island suffered its first human fatality from bird flu two weeks ago, was originally to last for at least 30 days but was lifted early due to pressure from poultry farmers.

 

Bali Husbandry Agency director I.B. Raka said there was no reason for the authorities to ban certified DOCs and that the public should not be worried about the issue. 

 

One reason the ban was lifted was that Bali was already suffering from a chicken shortage before the ban. Bali needs about 100,000 chickens per day for human consumption, while local farmers could only produce 80,000.

 

Although the ban was lifted, the authorities would still keep a close eye on smuggling activities.

 

Bali has 12 million chickens and other fowl, five million of which are believed to be backyard chickens.

 

While districts have mounted bird flu awareness campaigns, some villages are still covering up bird flu cases to protect their livestock, experts said.