GH¢20 Million Spent In Containing Bird Flu Outbreak – Agric Minister
The Minister of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto has said that the government granted approval for the immediate recruitment and deployment of an initial 550 veterinary professionals, out of a total of 1100 Professionals, procurement of vehicles, motorbikes, and laboratory equipment for the smooth operations of the Veterinary Services Directorate as part of efforts to contain the Bird flu outbreak.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, March 9, on matters relating to the payment of compensation to affected poultry farmers, he said, as of now, the government has released GH¢20,105,718.03.
The amount, according to him, was meant for stamping out, decontamination and disposal materials, compensation to currently affected farmers and some outstanding, compensation from 2015-2018, the roll-out of a Communication plan.
“Following the release of part of the approved funds, it was observed that between July and December 2021, the number of farms and birds affected has doubled. As of October 2021 when the Cabinet memo was approved 261,000 birds, 1,243 bags of feed, and 1,447 crates of eggs had been destroyed as a result of the disease.
“However, by 31st December 2021, which was used as the cut-off point for the payment of this compensation, the total number of birds affected by the Bird Flu is 554,638. The quantity of the feed destroyed had increased to 1,701.5 bags and 2,548 crates of egg were affected. This situation depicts an increased number of birds, the quantity of feed, and crates of eggs destroyed.
“To ensure all affected farmers from July to December 31st, 2021 receive some compensation for any losses incurred as a result of the outbreak, the Ministry has agreed to pay GH¢30.00 for a matured bird, GH¢20.00 for a pullet, GH¢10.00 per chick, GH¢80.00 for a bag of feed and GH¢10.00 for a crate of egg-based on the amount available immediately.
“You would recall my recent press briefing communicating to you various measures that have been put in place regarding the outbreak of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) in 2021. In that briefing I indicated amongst others, the approval for the release of an emergency budget support of approximately Forty-Four million Ghana Cedis (GH¢44 million) to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture,” he said.
Below is his full address:
The government also granted approval for the immediate recruitment and deployment of an initial 550 veterinary professionals, out of a total of 1100 Professionals, procurement of vehicles, motorbikes, and laboratory equipment for the smooth operations of the Veterinary Services Directorate.
Today, I have invited you here to update you on matters relating to the payment of compensation to affected poultry farmers. As of now, the government has released GHC20,105,718.03 which was meant for the following activities.
Details of the released amount are as follows:
Stamping Out, decontamination, and disposal materials
Compensation to currently affected farmers and some outstanding
compensation from 2015-2018
Roll-out of a Communication plan
Following the release of part of the approved funds, it was observed that between July and December 2021, the number of farms and birds affected have doubled. As of October 2021 when the Cabinet memo was approved 261,000 birds, 1,243 bags of feed and 1,447 crates of eggs had been destroyed as a result of the disease.
However, by 31st December 2021, which was used as the cut-off point for the payment of this compensation, the total number of birds affected by the Bird Flu is 554,638. The quantity of the feed destroyed had increased to 1,701.5 bags and 2,548 crates of egg were affected. This situation depicts an increased number of birds, the quantity of feed, and crates of eggs destroyed.
To ensure all affected farmers from July to December 31st, 2021 receive some compensation for any losses incurred as a result of the outbreak, the Ministry has agreed to pay GH¢30.00 for a matured bird, GH¢20.00 for a pullet, GH¢10.00 per chick, GH¢80.00 for a bag of feed and GHC10.00 for a crate of egg-based on the amount available immediately.
The Ministry also received the requisite data on the number of farms that were affected during the outbreaks of 2016, 2017, and 2018. An outstanding Thirty-Six (36) poultry farms will also receive their compensation. Those who have experienced outbreaks in the year 2022 throughout the country have also been captured in the database of the Ministry and will be subsequently in consultation with the Ministry of Finance be taken care of.
Affected poultry farmers between July – December 31st, 2021, should collect their certificates of destruction from the VSD and submit them to the Finance and Administration Unit of MoFA for commencement of payments.
Ladies and Gentlemen, before taking my seat I wish to urge all farmers to intensify their biosecurity measures on farms and to avoid restocking of farms until biosecurity certification and management practices are certified by the Veterinary Services Directorate & Animal Production Directorate.
Also, biometric registration and certification of all poultry farms in the country currently are ongoing. I urge all farmers to lend themselves to the biometric processes so they can be captured in the comprehensive database of poultry farmers in the country. This is all part of modernizing poultry farming in the country and enhancing the accuracy of data for planning, targeting for support, and payment of compensations when the need arises in the future.
As it stands now, there is a proliferation of poultry farmers, the majority of which are small-scale backyard poultry farms. In times of disease outbreaks such as the current HPAI (Bird Flu) outbreak, these small-scale farmers become vulnerable and therefore agents for the spread of the disease. Farms that do not receive certification will not be compensated by Government during future outbreaks.