Via The Himalayan Times: Govt helps bird flu affected farmers. Excerpt:
The government has distributed about Rs 10 million [US$116,000] in the last four years to bird flu affected farmers. The Animal Health Directorate provided the compensation to over five dozen farmers.
The directorate has culled 90,142 chickens due to bird flu (H5N1) infection across the country. “We have noticed 38 outbreaks in the last four years,” said senior veterinary doctor Dr Bal Bahadur Chand. According to him, directorate destroyed 48,219 eggs in the period.
Bird Flu Control Directive has provisioned to compensate affected farmers. According to it, a farmer gets Rs 500 [US$5.81] for a full grown chicken, Rs 250 for chicken above four weeks, and Rs 130 for chicken below four weeks.
Similarly, compensation of Rs 100 and Rs three have been provisioned for one kg chicken meat and an egg, respectively, that are destroyed during culling.
The first case of bird flu was reported in Jhapa in 2008, followed by Pokhara, Banke, Kailali, Dang and Tanahu in 2009, and Kathmandu, Jhapa, Ilam, Panchthar, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur and Chitwan in 2010.
Recent outbreaks have been reported since November, 2012, in Pokhara, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Nuwakot. Repeated bird flu outbreaks have been noticed in Jhapa, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Pokhara.Compensation for poultry farmers has been a continuing problem: If governments don't pay well and promptly for the birds culled, the farmers are understandably reluctant to report outbreaks. I gather the Cambodian government isn't paying any compensation at all.
