No poultry bio-security, no compensation

Minister Ernest Debrah announced that although the government paid compensation totalling about 1.4 billion cedis for nearly 30,000 birds that were destroyed as part of the control measures and those that died during the last outbreak, it would no longer pay compensation on a wholesale basis again.

“Compensation would only be paid to farmers whose poultry are attacked although they observed all the bio-security measures,” he said at the 3-day regional simulation workshop for Anglophone West African countries for the control of avian influenza, adding that staff of the Veterinary Services Directorate had started training poultry farmers on the importance of bio-security on their farms and would continue until all poultry farmers were reached.

The minister called on security agencies, especially those along the country’s borders, to continue to be vigilant and ensure that live birds or poultry products did not enter the country. He also urged the Ghana Poultry Development Board to set standards for the industry so that it could contain any outbreak.