Poultry business loses US $1 million a day due to bird-flu fears

Yemen’s poultry industry is losing roughly US $1 million a day due to the potentially deadly H5N1 avian flu, according to officials at the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, who say this figure could reach as high as $5 million if the problem goes unchecked. “Due to consumers’ fears of the pandemic, losses to the poultry sector are estimated at US $1 million per day,” said Ghalib al-Eryani, director of the government-run Animal Resources Department. Even though Yemen is officially free of the disease, many citizens have abstained from eating chicken or eggs due to frenzied reports of bird-flu epidemics elsewhere in the region. “I’m trying to keep my meals free of chickens and eggs – I haven’t eaten them for months,” said Abdulfatah Ahmed, a bookseller in the capital, Sana’a. “I’m afraid.” According to al-Eryani, his department had received numerous requests from poultry sellers for compensation for lost business. While addressing the Consultative Council late last month, Minister of Health Abdulkareem Ras’e suggested that poultry owners be compensated with US $1 per chicken culled in the event of the bird flu’s appearance. Ras’e has already warned of the potentially dire consequences of a domestic bird-flu outbreak. The World Health Organization predicted that, in the event of the disease’s appearance, some five million heads of poultry could be destroyed, while the cost to local industry could rise as high as US $2 billion per year. The local poultry sector produces approximately 100 million chickens annually. In an effort to pre-empt such a scenario, the government had already prepared an emergency plan, say officials. “We set up an operation room last October to undertake preventive measures and prepare a national anti-bird flu plan,” he said al-Eryani. “We’re keeping a ban in place on poultry imports from countries hit by avian influenza and have also begun field serology surveillance and collected 1,781 specimens which have all tested negative.” Al-Eryani went on to cite additional precautionary measures, such as bird-flu specific training for health workers and the establishment of vast slaughterhouses wherein birds can be culled en masse according to health standards. A recent report issued by the United States Agency for International development (USAID) made a number of further recommendations for pre-emption, including more health training, public awareness campaigns and the establishment of laboratories and surveillance centres. The report also noted that more coordination was needed between relevant government agencies, and that more funding should be made available to combat potential outbreaks of the disease.