ILOILO City – Western Visayas’ P30-billion poultry industry is on tenterhooks. An outbreak of avian influenza or bird flu could ruin it.
Bird flu is an infectious type of influenza that spreads among birds.
There are lots of different strains of bird flu virus. One, the H5N1 strain, has been detected in duck and quail farms in Bulacan and Pampanga provinces, respectively.
As a preemptive measure, the Department of Agriculture (DA) temporarily suspended for 30 days the movement or transportation of domestic and captured wild birds and poultry products from mainland Luzon to Western Visayas and the rest of the country.
According to Director Remelyn Recoter, DA Region 6 is also linking up with local government units to strengthen surveillance of marshes or wetlands across the region.
In Luzon, cases of bird flu were traced from migratory birds stopping by marshes, Recoter said.
Teams from DA’s Regional Animal Diagnostic Laboratory and Regulatory Division have started collecting samples for laboratory tests.
On March 7, Agriculture secretary William Dar issued Memorandum Circular No. 6 – 2022 prescribing guidelines for the movement of all species of live birds (poultry and non-poultry), including day-old chicks, day-old pullets, hatching eggs, ready-to-lay pullets, ducks, and quails from mainland Luzon, particularly Regions 1, 2, 3, 4A, 5, and CAR (Cordillera Autonomous Region), to MIMAROPA (Southwestern Tagalog Region, formerly designated as Region IV-B), Visayas, and Mindanao.
According to Recoter, bird flu hitting Region 6 will adversely affect not just fowl growers but also suppliers of ingredients for poultry feeds, corn farmers, feed mills, restaurants, and livelihood pertaining to poultry.
Negros Occidental is the first local government unit in the region to have declared a ban on the entry of live and processed poultry products from all areas, even from other provinces in Western Visayas.
The 15-day banning started on March 1.
Inventory-wise, Recoter said, Region 6 is No. 1 in the whole country in terms of native chicken, and 40 percent of this is in Negros Occidental.
“Aside from native chickens, daku man ila gamefowl industry that’s why gusto man nila protektahan,” said Recoter./PN
