SICK BIRDS SLAUGHTERED

Vice-president of the contracting company, Nutrimix, Ronnie Mohammed, yesterday told Newsday that investigations are continuing but preliminary findings have revealed that the Cumuto farmer did not follow company procedure regarding the maintenance of sanitary conditions "he was obligated to provide."

Asked when the farm would be restocked with chickens, Mohammed said the company will "have to look at that" but could not comment since it was getting rid of the birds.

The culling and disposal were completed at about 10.30 am.

Mohammed said the farmer will be compensated for the loss based on his "historical earnings"— the last seven batches that he grew.

Commenting on the downturn in the popularity of chicken, Mohammed blamed lack of customer awareness.

"The disease did not pose a threat to them. Most of the birds that are sold by all the major processors are independently inspected by veterinary health officials from the Ministry of Health."

Mohammed said any chicken sold on the market must go through mandatory inspection and certification. This has been happening since 1989. He said packaging on chicken states that it was passed by the Veterinary Public Health.

Chicken deaths are not uncommon in the poultry industry. "Typically eight percent of the number of birds placed on a farm die."

He hoped that the media could help support the poultry industry and keep customers aware that they are not at risk. "TT still continues to produce healthy chickens that are safe to eat."

He said while Nutrimix’s sales of chicken have declined since the first reports of aspergillosis surfaced, that decline was due to a lack of consumer knowledge and accounted for less than one percent of the company’s total poultry production.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Jarrette Narine and Mohammed yesterday assured the population there was no chance of a chicken shortage in Trinidad and Tobago because of the Cumuto outbreak. In an interview with Newsday, Narine indicated that the aspergillosis outbreak could have the effect of causing poultry overproduction rather than a poultry shortage, because there could be fewer purchasers for poultry farmers’ birds. Noting that the poultry industry produces eight million chicks annually and the industry forms a significant part of agriculture’s contribution to TT’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Narine gave the commitment that Government will do what it can to ensure that the situation does not adversely affect the industry and its stakeholders.

He also said the ministry will issue a poultry advisory to all farmers this weekend to inform them of their responsibilities under the law in matters such as these.

Narine said he was currently awaiting word from the ministry’s lawyers on this matter and whether aspergillosis is mentioned on the list of notifiable diseases order 1993 of the Animal Disease and Importation Act 67:02.