FILE PHOTO: Bird flu
Photo credit: The Indian Express

Kaduna State Government has donated bio-security equipment to poultry associations in the state to prevent the spread of the bird flu, also called Avian Influenza (AI), in the state.

Some of the equipment donated to the farmers included motorized sprayers, disinfectants and rain booths.

The items were given to Poultry and Pig Farmers, as well as, Live Bird Market Associations.

The Commissioner for Agriculture, Halima Lawal, represented by Dr Pakachi Zakariya, the Director, Veterinary and Livestock Services, made the donation on Friday in Kaduna during a stakeholders meeting.

The meeting was to sensitise them to the possibility of the disease outbreak in the state.

According to her, the distribution is a proactive measure to avert the spread of the disease in the state.

She disclosed that the state government had already received an alert from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture on confirmed cases of AI outbreak in Kano and Plateau.

The commissioner, however, assured that there were no confirmed cases of the disease in the state but harped on the need for preventive measures, especially by providing bio-security equipment as a control measure.

She said that the state was the first to report the outbreak of AI in 2006 and stressed the need to remind stakeholders of government policies and measures.

“Poultry is a business that engages women and youths. So, if we have a challenge that will affect the poultry industry it will affect the economy of the state,” she explained.

She said that the donation was in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and supported by Regional Diseases Surveillance System and Enhancement Programme (REDISSE).

Adamu Hussain, Chairman, Live Bird Market Association, also assured that the association would intensify surveillance to detect any case of the disease for the purpose of reporting to the relevant authorities.

Hussain, however, expressed dismay at the operations of unlicensed veterinary doctors and called for more stringent measures to stop the trend.

In his remarks, the Chairman, Kaduna State Private Veterinary Association, Mr Shehu Shamsudeen, commended the state government for the proactive measure to avert the disease outbreak in the state.

He assured the stakeholders that the association would continue to give updates on the licence of veterinary doctors.