10m chickens to be culled
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Around 10 million chickens will be culled to stop the spread of bird flu in the country, which is predicted will completely subside in six months.
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla said on Thursday the mass slaughter of chickens would be completed in three months, but the compensation would only be distributed as soon as the country is declared free from the outbreak.
"We have calculated at least 10 million chickens will be culled. It is expected everything will be under control in six months," Kalla said before attending a Cabinet meeting.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri ordered a selective cull last week, bowing to the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO). Indonesia had previously insisted on vaccination as a preventive measure for the spread of the virus.
In an about face, world health experts on Thursday recommended that a poultry vaccination campaign be launched to create buffer zones to control the spread of the bird flu epidemic, Reuters reported.
"Vaccinations can be used to create a buffer zone around an infected province or between an affected country and one that is not," top UN food agency official Louise Fresco told a news conference after two days of urgent talks with about 40 animal and human health experts in Rome.
Scientists will hold an emergency regional meeting in Thailand at the end of this month to coordinate implementation of the recommendations, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which hosted the Rome talks.
The Indonesian government has confirmed that the H5NI virus, which has claimed 17 lives in Thailand and Vietnam, is the one that killed millions of chickens here.
Kalla said the farmers were required to burn and then bury the infected chickens to ensure that the flu would not spread further.
"It is selective, but in the case where in one cage some are sick and some not, the farmers are required to slaughter them all," the minister said.
The first massive cull will be conducted in Tabanan regency of Bali, one of the worst infected areas, on Friday, to be witnessed by Bali Governor I Made Dewa Beratha.
A total of 51 regencies in 10 provinces have been affected by the outbreak.
As for compensation, the government will replace each chicken with a newly hatched chick and provide animal feed for the farmers.
"Such compensation may not offset the loss suffered by the farmers, but we all should share the burden," Kalla said.
The Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture had taken blood samples of poultry farm workers in the 10 infected provinces in the country, but none of them tested positive.
Kalla said, however, the government had asked farmers to take bio-security precautionary steps to anticipate possible transfer of the disease to humans.
Farmers and their workers are required to wear gloves and wash their hands carefully with disinfectant after handling chickens or chicken cages. They are also required to limit the number of people who feed and care for the chickens and list their names.
"We will also continue providing vaccine for the chickens, and we hope to finish the job in three months," the minister added.
The government has allocated some Rp 212 billion (US$23.8million) to deal with the outbreak, Rp 50 billion of the fund will be spent on compensation, vaccine and animal feed for farmers.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture issued an import ban on poultry products from 10 infected countries, effective as of Thursday.
Chief of the agriculture ministry quarantine agency Budi Triakoso said the ban would affect products from Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, Laos, Taiwan, Thailand, Pakistan and Cambodia.