Chief Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, gave the assurance when he featured at a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja.

He said that although the computed amount was quite huge, the Federal Government was working out modalities on how to settle the farmers soon.

“We have not compensated any farmer in the last one year because we have no money. The last compensation they were paid was a donation from the World Bank. I lost a lot of chickens too.

“We are trying to find money to pay them. So, it was a disaster; we can actually prevent Avian Flu in poultry through biosecurity measures in farms.

“Many farmers are very careless. Sometimes, the human being is a bigger transporter of diseases into the poultry farm than chicken. Make sure people don’t walk into your farm anyhow, a farmer from another farm don’t enter your farms, the feed sacks you use are not reused.

“There was an outbreak in Kano about two months ago but it has been contained; so, somehow, we are limiting the outbreak of the disease. We have to find money to pay those who lost chickens but the sums are huge.

“If we have to pay for all the chickens, we may be talking of something in the neighbourhood of six or seven billion (naira) in many states, especially around Kano and Kaduna.

“People were moving chickens all over the place without checking and some of the hatcheries are very dirty; so, other diseases have to come in.”

The minister said that one of the biggest achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in agriculture was giving farmers an opportunity to own businesses and make huge earnings from them.

Ogbeh said that the government was planning to establish massive coconut, cocoa and shea butter plantations in some parts of the country to revive trade in the crops, while boosting local consumption and exports.

He urged the citizens to embrace farming as a way of inventing their future.

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Its Chairman, John Dasar, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Jos, that more birds were being depopulated in some farms to prevent further spread of the bird flu.

Dasar attributed the fast spread of the disease to the non-payment of compensation to farmers affected by the disease in 2015 and 2016.

“Such farmers, out of desperation and frustration, decided to sell their affected birds in the open markets.

“More than 130 poultry farmers were affected by the 0disease in 2015 and 2016; the birds were destroyed by the federal government, but compensations were not paid,” he said.

Dasar said that farmers in Plateau were going through “a very tough time” following the resurgence of the bird flu “especially in the last one week”.

The chairman regretted that most farmers do not report the outbreak of the disease in their farms.

“They prefer to sell their birds to marketers than wait for government compensation that will never come.

“Whenever we get wind of an outbreak, we alert government officials to take immediate action; that is the only option we have,” Dasar said.

The PAN boss revealed that the outbreak of the disease had affected the supply of eggs and other poultry products in the markets.

“The supply has gone down and that is affecting the prices because demand is now higher than supply,” he said.

The chairman, however, appealed to affected poultry farmers to be patient as modalities for compensations were being worked out.

He expressed optimism that the Federal Government would adequately compensate affected farmers “at the end of the day”.

“We met with the the Minister of Agriculture a month ago and he promised that something will be done in no distant time. He assured me that the compensations will soon be paid,” he said.

Dasar said that he personally met with PAN national officials three times last week, and was given the assurance that the monies would be paid.

“Two weeks ago, PAN officials also met with Vice President Yemi Osibanjo and he ordered that the payments be processed; so, it is just a matter of time,” he said.

The chairman appealed to farmers to adopt serious bio-security measures to prevent the flu, and also report any outbreak in their farms promptly.

“When farmers report promptly, we shall be able to avert further spread of the disease in the state.” he said.

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The association’s chairman in the state, John Dasar, who made this disclosure to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos, said six farms had so far been depopulated.

NAN reports that bird flu or avian flu, is an infectious type of influenza that spreads among birds.

Dasar attributed the fast spread of the disease to the non-payment of compensation to farmers affected by the disease in 2015 and 2016.

He said some farmers would prefer to sell their affected birds to desperate marketers instead of reporting the incident to the appropriate authorities.

NAN reports that more than 130 poultry farmers were affected by the disease in 2015 and 2016 but they had yet to be compensated.

“Farmers in Plateau are really going through tough times because of the resurgence of bird flu in the last one week.

“In one week, six poultry farms were depopulated and no fewer than 11,000 birds were culled.

“The main concern here is that most farmers don’t report the outbreak of the disease in their farms.

“They prefer to sell their birds to marketers rather than wait for government’s compensation that will never come.

“The non-reporting aids the fast spread of the disease because of the movement of the infected birds from one point to the other.

“So, all we do is when we get wind of an outbreak in any farm, we alert government’s officials to take immediate action,’’ Dasar said.

The chairman, however, called on the affected poultry farmers in the state to be patient, as modalities were on ground to ensure that they get compensations.

“We were with the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, a month ago and he promised that something would be done in no distant time; to ensure that compensations are paid,’’ he said.

He, however, urged the farmers to report any outbreak in their farms to the appropriate authorities so as to avert any further spread of the disease in the state.

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The chef, who indicated considering changing his menu, said:“We have ridden it out through Christmas with what (supplies) we have secured.

Moon, who works at the LÈSCARGOT bakery in the South Korean capital, added: “But if (bird flu) continues till late January, we will have to raise prices inevitably and make bakery items that do not need eggs.”

About 20 million birds, or 12.2 per cent of South Korea’s poultry stock have been culled to control the outbreak. Most of the birds culled are egg-laying hens.

According to reports, the flu has spread in other parts of Asia as well, particularly in Japan.

In South Korea, the average retail price for 30 eggs has risen nearly 25 per cent to 6,781 won ($5.68) since the outbreak began on Nov.18 — the highest in more than three years, according to state-run Korea Agro-Fisheries, Food Trade Corp.

The price hike is putting a dent in the wallets of Koreans, who usually eat more eggs in the winter including in bread and kimbap, a Korean sushi roll.

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The Director Veterinary Services, Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr. Shehu Bawa, disclosed this to journalists in Kano.

Bawa said the outbreak was recorded in one of the poultry farms in the state.

He said the affected farm had been depopulated while stringent measures were taken to prevent the spread of the disease.

“The state government has taken proactive measures to contain the spread of the disease to other farms within the state,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted Bawa as saying to journalists.

He said part of the measures taken to check the spread of the disease include disinfection of the affected farm and routine surveillance of other farms.

Bawa called on farmers to immediately report to the appropriate authority outbreak of the disease in their respective farms to enable the government to take prompt action.

“I am using this opportunity to advise farmers to immediately report any outbreak of the disease to enable the government to take prompt response.”

On an inadequate number of veterinarians, the director urged the government to employ more for effective supervision of abattoirs in the state.

He said most of the abattoirs lacked veterinarians to inspect animals before being slaughtered.

“With the exception of the two abattoirs at Kofar Mazugal and Bachirawa, others have no meat Inspectors.

“So, there is the need to have veterinarians to supervise abattoirs in each of the 44 Local Government Areas of the state,” he said.

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Nigeria was the first country in Africa to report H5N1 in poultry in 2006, according to the World Health Organisation, WHO.

Chairman, Nigeria Veterinary Medical Association, NVMA, Lagos State chapter, Dr Alao Mobolaji, who disclosed this on Sunday, however allayed growing fears over the incidence, saying it was safe to consume chicken and other poultry as long as it was properly handled and well cooked.

“I can assure you that we have been able to contain it since it was reported. The farm that this broke out from has been quarantined and they have destroyed the chickens in that particular farm.

“Basically, all the veterinary institutions within the state have stepped up to contain the disease and when I say stepped up, I mean proper security has been set up in all chicken markets in the state as much as possible.

“Our members have been put on alert and the farmers place on advisory alert as well to prevent the spread of the disease so that it does not escalate.”

Noting that last week’s incidence in the two states was not unusual, he explained that the rate at which the disease had been emerging and re-emerging is something to talk about.

He noted: “The last time such case occurred was around 2006 and it took us a while to contain it. The alertness of Ebola has help us to quickly attend to this one too as much as possible.

“This is also expected in the state of globalisation, urbanisation which is on the rise. Increasing the proximity of animal and human being is on the rise and need to be taken serious because human and animal are sharing quarters.

“Stressing that chicken is safe, Mobolaji urged people not to panic, adding: “People should not panic; people should consume chicken like they consume it normally.”

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Agriculture Minister Akinwumi Adesina statement said samples were taken from birds at the two farms, in the commercial hub Lagos and the main northern city of Kano, after they showed “unusual high mortality” rates.

The samples “tested positive for the H5 strain of avian influenza virus”, the statement said, adding that samples had been sent to a laboratory in Italy for further testing.

A spokesman for the ministry was not able to elaborate on the virus strain’s subtype.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and biggest economy, was the continent’s first country to detect bird flu in 2006, when chicken farms were found to have the H5N1 strain. In 2007, it reported its first human death from the disease.

High pathogenic H5N1 bird flu first infected humans in 1997 in Hong Kong. It has since spread from Asia to Europe and Africa and has become entrenched in poultry in some countries, causing millions of poultry infections and several hundred human deaths.

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