April 5, 2006	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 6, 1427

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LAHORE, April 4: Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool has said the government is offering all possible help to poultry industry to recover from the bird flu crisis and has provided funds to veterinary research institute for developing its vaccine. Speaking at a one-day conference on ‘Role of poultry industry in national economy and human health’ here on Tuesday with District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood in the chair, he said the government had taken all possible steps to control the poultry disease. All poultry farms had been checked and the situation was being constantly monitored.

He said bird flu had been reported from only two places and no person had been harmed on account of it but the poultry industry had suffered heavy financial losses owing to its scare. He said the disease could not be transmitted from consumption of the infected chicken because the virus destroyed during cooking.

The governor ate chicken meat after the conference and called upon the people to continue enjoying the chicken delicacies without caring for the rumours. He said poultry industry should take steps for the prevention of bird flu outbreak. Poultry farm workers required to be protected against the disease in particular. The government was providing loans to farmers for modernisation of farms and protecting the flocks from diseases.

Poultry expert Dr Mustafa Kamal said the industry was providing 7kg per capita per annum white meat to the people of Pakistan by raising 700 million broilers. It was also supplying 10,000 million eggs to Pakistani population every year. The industry had grown by 134 per cent since 1990 against 36.8 per cent growth in beef and 28.4 per cent in mutton production.

He said 70 per cent of poultry farms in the country were in Punjab which had 17,500 farms out of a total of 25,000. He said 250,000 people were earning their livelihood from poultry industry directly and over a million indirectly. It was the largest job provider in the country after the textile industry. He said 90 per cent of poultry farms and hatcheries in the country had modern production facilities.

Poultry expert Dr Javed Akram said chicken meat was best for health due to high protein and low fat. The industry not only provided chicken meat to people at economical prices but also helped in growth of agriculture because 30 to 35 per cent of feed was produced from maize, bran and broken rice.

Pakistan Poultry Association Chairman Raza Mahmood Khorsand said the industry had incurred losses of Rs20 billion as a result of bird flu scare in 2003.