An outbreak of bird flu has been confirmed in two panchayats in Kottayam district in Kerala, dampening the prospects of poultry farmers in the entire region. They fear this might affect their business during the Christmas and New Year seasons.
The district administration official confirmed the presence of H5N1 virus, a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus in Arpookara and Thalayazham grama panchayats in Kottayam after the tests carried out at the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal.
Culling ordered
The Kottayam district collector has directed to start culling process of all domestic birds including ducks in one km radius. As per the primary assessment, around 8,000 birds will have to be culled.
However, there are no evidences of the outbreak of the disease in other parts of the State.
The authorities have also declared a blanket ban on the movement of poultry in 10 km radius of the affected areas. It was also decided to close all poultry and egg markets and shops and restricted farmers by banning them taking the fowl out for feeding.
The farming community said that the detection of avian influenza will have an impact on the poultry market in Kuttanad region. The bird flu has emerged as a recurrent phenomenon in Alappuzha and Kottayam belt during the winter for the few consecutive years because of the arrival of migratory birds.
The outbreak of bird flu was in 2014 and it repeated in 2016, badly affecting the flourishing poultry sector. The report of the State Animal Husbandry Department says that around 15 lakh of ducks and ducklings were culled. This has impacted the bird stock size of farmers. However, the rise in consumption of poultry meat has resulted in a huge gap between the demand and supply of duck meat.
According to farmers association, there are more than 1,000 big duck farmers in the region and the bird flu has rattled their business with the authorities regulating the trade of meat and egg of ducks, chicken and quail in a bid to tame the spread of the disease.
A study on the economic impact of the 2014 bird flu outbreak on Kuttanad, which was published by the National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics in 2017, had found that the loss due to destruction of feed and eggs was relatively high in backyard farms than their commercial counterparts.
The Kerala State Planning board, in its report after post-flood Kuttanad, noted that around 90 per cent of the ducks in Kuttanad are reared without any systematic or scientific feeding practices or disease control measures.