Most poultry farmers who had to exterminate their chickens that had been infected by bird flu (avian influenza) in the last fiscal year have still not received any compensation from the government as the Department of Livestock has reportedly run out of money.
The director general of the DLS, Md Ashraf Ali, told New Age that they were not able to pay compensation to all the affected poultry farmers due to shortage of funds.
Up to June 5, which was the last time that bird flu was detected, the DLS exterminated a total of 5,39,562 chickens and destroyed 31,07,258 eggs at 161 poultry farms across the country, said official sources.
DLS officials said that the farms which would be considered eligible for compensation must have been registered with the government, had bio-security measures in place, be able to provide a money receipt for the purchase of chickens and have an up-to-date register of stock till the day of extermination.
The officials said that the DLS has so far disbursed only Tk 3.04 crore as compensation to 43 farmers whose poultry birds were exterminated, but that they were yet to pay about Tk 5 crore to the remaining 118 affected farmers.
The amount of compensation that the farmers receive depends on the type and age of the birds that have been killed.
For ‘backyard’ birds that had to be got rid of the compensation ranges from Tk 40 per bird less than 4 weeks old, rising up to Tk 180 for a bird more than 20 weeks old.
For parent stock the range is between Tk 90 and Tk 220, and for broilers between Tk 40 for a young bird to Tk 120 for a bird over 5 weeks old.
Farmers will also receive Tk 5 as compensation for each egg that was destroyed.
‘I have been facing a difficult time as I have to repay the loans that I took from three non-governmental organizations before my birds contracted bird flu,’ said Azadur Rahman Bhutto, a poultry farmer from Adamdighi upazila in Bogra district, whose 7,500 birds were exterminated on March 14.
He said that he had not yet started stocking chickens in his farm due to lack of money and none of the farmers of his area had got the due compensation this year.
‘So far as I know, only a few affected farmers have got compensation from the government,’ said Bangladesh Poultry Khamar Rokhkha Jatiya Parishad’s general secretary, Khandakar Mohammad Mohsin.
He said that many of the affected farmers would not be able to start their farms again due to the delay as they are now paying back their loans with interest, and will only receive a small part of their actual loss as compensation.
DLS’s director general said that he expected to receive the fund to pay compensation soon and would then be able to recompense the affected farmers.
-With New Age input
