Bird flu scare:

World Bank comes in as poultry farmer commits suicide in Bafoussam

By Rachel NtubeNgwese in Yaounde

For more than a month now poultry farmers in the country have been under panic following the apparition of the bird flu virus (H5N1 virus) that affects and kills table birds. The disaster that started in the state-owned poultry farm at the Nvog-Betsi neighborhood in Yaoundé soon spread to other parts of the capital city and other regions of the country.

                In other to contain the spread of the virus, the government quickly banned the sale of chicken and related products such as eggs. Other measures to contain the crisis were rapidly instituted such as the disinfection of poultry farms and markets, the systematic destruction of identified poultry farms and the establishment of patrol teams to stop the sale and consumption of both infected and apparently healthy chickens.

                These measures however salutary have plunged many business persons specialized in the rearing and sale of chicken and its byproducts into severe difficulties. It is evaluated that several billions of francs cfa have been lost by chicken dealers since the outbreak of the flu. Rough estimates put the figure at over 50 billion.

     But this has not deterred the government in her efforts to eradicate the epidemic and revive the sector. The efforts will be supplemented by intervention from foreign partners, it has emerged.

                Last week the country director of the World Bank in Cameroon, Mrs. Elizabeth Huybens held a tete-a-tete with the minister of livestock, fisheries and animal industry Dr. Taiga, and expressed the willingness of the institution to partner with the government in arresting the crisis. She said the assistance will go as far as refinancing poultry dealers who have suffered great losses due to the spread of the flu. The promise has rekindled hope among the many farmers who until now had not had any promise from government.

                It should be mentioned that the pledge from the World Bank came after a young poultry farmer committed suicide by drowning in a river in Bafoussam, after all his chicken were destroyed. Reports said the boy whose name we got as Simplice told his friends and neighbours that he contracted a huge bank loan to invest in the poultry business; and that he does not know how he was going to reimburse the loan.