WB lends flu-hit Vietnam farmers

WB lends flu-hit Vietnam farmers

HANOI: The World Bank, one of Vietnam's biggest aid donors,
will lend the country US$10 million to compensate farmers who
have lost poultry because of bird flu and help them raise new
flocks.

"We're thinking of somewhere around $10 million which probably
would, for the period of the next 12 to 15 months, be
sufficient," Klaus Rohland, Vietnam country director for the
World Bank, told reporters on Friday.

The virulent H5N1 bird flu virus, suspected to have been
spread by migrating birds, has broken out in eight Asian
countries, devastating poultry flocks and killing at least 14
people in Vietnam and five in Thailand.

About 30 million of an estimated 250 million poultry in
Vietnam have been killed by the virus or culled as authorities
try to stamp it out.

The government has promised up to 15,000 dong (about $1) for
every bird culled.

Rohland said the aid would be in the form of soft loans and
grants, and the first disbursement could be "as early as May". --
Reuters