FAO Donates Materials To Contain Bird Flu

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has supported Federal Government’s on-going response to control and curtail the spread of Bird Flu by donating some disease surveillance and containment materials to the Ministry.

Receiving the materials on behalf of the ministry at the weekend, the Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri assured FAO and the other development partners that the items would be put to proper use.

Lokpobiri appealed for increased and sustained support from these bodies as government is committed to achieving self-sufficiency in the livestock sector. He expressed sadness at the huge loss of birds suffered by poultry farmers affected by the Avian Influenza.

FAO Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Louise Setshwaelo said the risk factors that favoured the spread of Avian Influenza included poor bio-security in poultry farms, movement of poultry and poultry products from infected farms.

Setshwaelo emphasised the need to deploy sufficient resources to fight the current infection, saying more efforts are needed particularly by state Governments to fight the outbreak.