Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat:
Speaking at the National Steering Committee meeting for avian influenza prevention on November 14, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat once again warned about the risk of an outbreak and the potential for an avian influenza pandemic in Vietnam.
According to Minister Cao Duc Phat, as of yesterday afternoon, the outbreak had occurred in 45 communes of 29 districts across 10 provinces nationwide. Notably, this year’s outbreak has come a month earlier than in 2004 and “is spreading very quickly, with a significant number of poultry and waterfowl dying or being destroyed due to the disease, which is occurring on a large scale and has the potential to spread even further in the coming time.”
Mr. Phat pointed out that in the Mekong Delta, only two provinces, Dong Thap and Bac Lieu, are affected; in Central Vietnam, only Quang Nam is impacted; while the remaining seven affected localities are in the Red River Delta. This contrasts with the “pattern” of previous outbreaks, which typically started in the south before moving north.
At the meeting, Bui Quang Anh, Director of the Animal Health Department, announced that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has recently recommended that poultry vaccinated against the disease can be used for food just 14 days after vaccination, instead of the previously recommended 28 days. Mr. Bui Quang Anh also stated that his unit has imported enough 220 million doses of vaccine. Fifty-two provinces and cities (of which three provinces have completed both vaccinations) have vaccinated over 100 million poultry and waterfowl against the disease. |
Minister Phat expressed deep concern about the complex and unpredictable nature of the outbreak, while local prevention measures remain inconsistent. “The detection of the outbreak is very slow, and the response efforts are still hesitant and delayed. The people remain indifferent to the disease. These are significant reasons for the rapid spread of the disease,” Mr. Phat said.
In an interview with Tuoi Tre, Bui Ba Bong, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, affirmed that at this time, it is still not possible to increase the support level for farmers with poultry that must be destroyed due to the disease. According to Mr. Bong, the current support level of 15,000 VND per bird (equivalent to 1 USD per bird) is already on par with, if not higher than, that of China, Thailand, and Indonesia…
Although the support level for the destruction of poultry remains unchanged, Minister Cao Duc Phat mentioned that his agency has completed “a number of policies to encourage the transformation of farming methods, slaughtering, trading poultry and poultry products,” for submission to the Prime Minister for approval.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development proposes supportive policies: households with incomes of about 30% or more derived from livestock will receive 50% interest rate support on loans for two years to transition to concentrated farming or switch to raising other animals. The supported loan amount should not exceed 10 million VND per household.
For small-scale slaughtering businesses, poultry trading, and poultry product sales, they will receive 2 million VND per household to change occupations. Support will also be provided to slaughterhouses and poultry processing facilities purchasing live poultry and eggs from certified livestock farms at 4,000 VND per kilogram of live poultry and 200 VND per egg…
DUC BINH
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung: Preventing the outbreak is a primary task On the morning of November 14, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and a government task force inspecting avian influenza prevention had a working session with the People’s Committee of Binh Duong Province. At the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister directed Binh Duong Province to focus on three issues: First: strengthen communication efforts. Second: if the province has effectively implemented vaccination, it must now pay close attention to protecting the poultry population. Third: strictly control, detect, and promptly contain and extinguish outbreaks as soon as they occur. The Deputy Prime Minister also emphasized that disease prevention and control must be a primary focus to prevent the disease from occurring in humans. Facilities should temporarily halt poultry farming, as there would be no market for the products anyway. ANH THOA |
