Native Poultry Vulnerable To Avian Influenza Infection

Denpasar - Native poultry in Indonesia are vulnerable to avian influenza infection because of poor sanitation and inadequate vaccination of the birds. What’s concerning is that agricultural census data for the last five years have shown that backyard farming of native poultry in Indonesia is practiced by 21 million families, said Director of Non-Ruminant Livestock Breeding, Directorate General of Livestock, Ministry of Agriculture, Drh. Djajadi Gunawan MPH in Denpasar, Monday. He said that public awareness to vaccinate their fowl is still poor.

Therefore the Ministry of Agriculture hopes backyard farmers will house/cage their birds and form groups. Housing birds and forming farm-groups will make it easier to maintain sanitation and conduct vaccination, he said. He also said the government is continuously encouraging native poultry farmers to accelerate forming farm-groups within their respective area.
By housing poultry through group efforts, besides being safer away from avian influenza, it will be more economic because the cost of making poultryhouses will be divided within the group. The native poultry farmers aside from fulfilling their family’s nutritional needs could also economically fulfill other family needs, said Djajadi.
Meanwhile Secretary General of the Indonesian Native Poultry Farmer Association (Himpuli), Mohammad Yunus, said it is not true that avian influenza has never been found to infect native poultry. “From data we have collected, most birds infected by avian influenza are native chickens and broiler chickens,” he said.
Even though native chickens are still considered safe from avian influenza infection, but he still recommends vaccination of all fowl. “We have advised all native poultry farmers to vaccinate their birds because the birds are vulnerable to avian influenza exposure in Indonesia,” said Yunus.

Source : Antara