Fidelia Okafor.

Avian influenza killed 42,000 birds in 12 farms in Plateau, between January and February 2017, according to the local chapter of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN).

Its Chairman, Mr John Dasar, who stated this on Monday in Jos, added 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 disease 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.

“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 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.