Compensa on for culled poultry
Villagers whose poultry had to be culled to contain the bird flu outbreak in Tuaran will be compensated, said Sabah Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Junz Wong yesterday.
KOTA KINABALU: Villagers whose poultry had to be culled to contain the bird flu outbreak in Tuaran near here will be compensated, said Sabah Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Junz Wong yesterday.
He said during an operation to control the spread of the influenza, details of the affected villagers were recorded so that the state government could work out a compensation.
"We will discuss and decide on the compensation for the villagers.
"We have already set up an operations room to record and register our villagers and how many of their chickens that had been destroyed," he told reporters on the sideline of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly sitting here yesterday.
Wong said the operations room was set up on Aug 4 after declaring Tuaran a bird flu outbreak area on Aug 3.
According to him, about 29,990 chickens and 3,500 eggs from farms in Kampung Kaulan, Tuaran had been destroyed so far, while 1,150 fowls and 485 eggs owned by villagers from five villages were destroyed.
The affected villages in Tuaran are Kampung Tambalaung, Kampung Dang Sangai, Kampung Bukit Giling, Kampung Telibong and Kampung Kauluan that are within a five kilometre radius of operation to contain the spread of bird flu, he said.
"We will continue with monitoring those areas. We seek cooperation from the public, especially in reporting sudden deaths of chickens so that we can test for bird flu," he said, adding that there were no reports or signs of infection on humans.
Wong also said export of poultry has been halted following the outbreak.
He did not deny the possibility of the virus being brought in from neighbouring countries, specifically by individuals involved in cockfighting activities.
On another development, he said his ministry would be introducing a standard operating procedure (SOP) in about a month's time that would be streamlined with China's requirements for the country to import birds nests from Sabah.
He said the endeavour would benefit locals and training would be provided by his ministry and the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry for those interested in venturing into birds nests business.
Wong also announced that Sabah is bound to have a swiftlet nest downstream industry in time to come.
According to him, discussions are taking place at the Federal level to allow Sabah to have its own swiftlet nest industry.
“In future, we will be able to export this product to China without having to go through West Malaysia because the industry is currently focused there.
“We will have a forum shortly for those who are interested in pursuing this industry,” he added.