Avian Influenza, also called bird flu, has affected the poultry business in Bauchi State, as farmers in the state lost 50,000 birds to the flu.
Of the 50,000 birds, 27,000 were killed by the farmers to curb the spread of the disease
This disclosure was made by the state Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Sama’ila Adamu Burga, who said that Bauchi was one of the seven states in the country challenged with the emergence of the disease.
He urged poultry farmers to follow guidelines instituted by the government to ensure that the flu is well contained in order to safely move poultry products across the country.
Burga noted that humans could become sick with the disease, as the effect of the disease on a nation’s economy is well documented, especially with the country’s poultry value chain taking a major hit.
He gave a timeline of the disease in the country, as far back as 2006, a resurgence in 2007 and in 2015 and 2019, and the most recent occurrence.
The commissioner stated that stakeholders were in talks with the state’s agriculture ministry to devise means to curb the flu.
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He said, “It is gladdening to state that, so far, many poultry industry stakeholders, such as poultry owners/workers, my field officers and live bird marketers, were screened through a joint exercise between my ministry, Ministry of Health and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) where samples were collected, sent to laboratory and all the results turned out to be negative.”
Nigeria’s Bird Flu History
According to the social accounting matrix (SAM), the poultry subsector accounts for about 1.2 percent of the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) and 0.4 percent of the country’s total GDP.
During the first bird flu outbreak in 2006, which was first recorded in Kaduna State, over 325,000 chickens were said to have been infected with the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, a member of the H5N1 virus.
Of the 325,000 chickens that were lost, 223,000 were slaughtered to contain the spread.
However, the disease spread to 22 states, while Lagos State, in 2007, reported an infected human.
