Breeders hit hard by collapsing poultry sales<\/p>\n
Multa Fidrus and Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang, Bogor<\/p>\n
Life has become more difficult for poultry and pig breeders in
\nTangerang, Banten, since the area was declared a \"red zone\" for
\nafter as the first avian flu fatalities in humans occurred there
\nlast month.<\/p>\n
\"I'm facing massive losses. I've had no buyers since the
\ngovernment started culling poultry and pigs here,\" said Parman,
\n47, a pig and duck breeder in Babat village, Legok district.<\/p>\n
Earlier last week, the Ministry of Agriculture carried out its
\nfirst limited cull of pigs and poultry that displayed indications
\nof being infected by the H5N1 virus.<\/p>\n
Parman, who has 34 pigs and 112 ducks, claimed that results of
\nthe examinations conducted by the Veterinary Research Center
\nshowed that none of his animals or birds had been infected by the
\nvirus and that he had received \"bird-flu free\" certification from
\nthe agriculture agency.<\/p>\n
Still, it has not been easy to convince buyers that his
\nanimals and birds are harmless. Due to the declining sales,
\nParman has had to temporarily lay off his employees.<\/p>\n
Some 250 other poultry breeders in Tangerang have been
\nsimilarly affected. The survival of their businesses is currently
\nthreatened by the central government's \"red zone\" declaration,
\neven though their birds have not been infected by the deadly
\nvirus.<\/p>\n
Tangerang was declared as bird flu \"red zone\" after laboratory
\ntests showed that a man and his two daughters had died of bird
\nflu in early July.<\/p>\n
The central government has also banned poultry and pigs from
\nbeing taken out of Tangerang until after the regency is declared
\nfree of the bird flu virus.<\/p>\n
Most pig and poultry breeders have seen their sales drop to
\nzero since the area was declared a red zone. Jakarta officials
\nsaid over the weekend that poultry consumption had fallen by up
\nto 70 percent in the capital alone.<\/p>\n
Sutrisno, 49, who employs 15 workers at
\nhis poultry farm in Pasar Kemis district, said that the markets
\nin Jakarta and Lampung were still refusing to take his chickens.<\/p>\n
\"I have not counted up my losses, but, as you can see, none of
\nmy employees are working today as I've asked them to stay at home
\nuntil sales get better,\" said Sutrisno, who rears some 15,000
\nbroiler chickens on his two-hectare farm in Sukatani village.<\/p>\n
Before the bird flu scare, he sold between 1,000 and 1,500
\nchickens a day. \"We have had no orders nor buyers for the past
\nthree days,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Many breeders who saw their birds culled have opted to take a
\nbreak before attempting to revive their businesses.<\/p>\n
Tangerang Animal Husbandry Agency director Didi Aswadi said
\nthat his office had begun to hand out bird flu-free certificates
\nso that breeders could sell their birds to buyers who required
\nproof that they were not infected.<\/p>\n
Tangerang regent Ismet Iskandar urged the central government
\nlast Wednesday to revoke the red zone status imposed on the
\nregency, insisting that there was no bird flu epidemic there.<\/p>\n
He said that his administration was monitoring all poultry
\nfarms in the regency and had found no further indications of bird
\nflu.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, poultry breeders in Bogor have been taking
\npreventive measures by resorting to spraying.<\/p>\n
\"We spray all vehicles entering and leaving the farm with
\ndisinfectant,\" said Juwito, a worker with PT Scorpio, one of the
\nlargest poultry farms in Parung, Bogor.<\/p>\n
Parung and Gunung Sindur district are among the main centers
\nof the poultry industry in Bogor, with birds from the area being
\nsupplied to markets in Greater Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Sales in the area appear not to have been affected by the bird
\nflu scare, however.<\/p>",
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