Bird flu: Kano poultry farmers beg Ganduje over compensation
Poultry farmers affected by the Avian Influenza, also known as bird flu, in Kano have appealed to the state government to ensure payment of compensation for their birds killed during an outbreak of the disease in the state.
It would be recalled that over 3.5 million birds valued at N2.4bn were slaughtered in the state between December 2015 and January 2016 on the directives of the state government following an outbreak of the flu.
However, government was only able to pay the affected farmers N750m, while the balance of N1.7bn has not been paid two years after the unfortunate incident.
The Chairman of Nana Farms, Alhaji Aminu Adamu, who made the plea in an interview with Daily Trust in Kano, said poultry farmers affected by the disease had not been paid compensation of their birds.
“Their birds were depopulated in an effort to cut out the spread of the disease. For the past two years, nobody has paid them compensation. I am afraid that if government does not pay them compensation, anytime a similar outbreak happens, farmers will resist any attempt by the government to kill their birds. Instead, they will sell the birds in the market and that will mean spreading the disease further,” he warned.
Adamu, therefore, urged government to quickly settle the affected farmers to avert the unnecessary loss in the poultry business sub-sector in the state.
Alhaji Adamu also advised the northern states to enact a law that would make it compulsory to give each student of boarding schools an egg a day, saying this would argument the poultry business and boost the nation’s economy.
“Zamfara State has set an example in that respect during the regime of the former governor, Alhaji Ahmed Sani Yarima, who enacted a law in the state that makes it compulsory to give one egg to each student of boarding schools in the state,” he said.