Staff Correspondent

Watchdog Bangladesh and World's Poultry Science Association Bangladesh, nongovernmental organisations, co-organised a Meet-the-Press session at the National Press Club.

The speakers also said people had already eliminated chicken and eggs from their menu for bird flu panic although nobody had been infected.

The virus did not spread from one person to another, they said. If cooked properly, there will be no risk as the virus becomes inactive at a temperature of over 70 degrees.

According to government data, some 191 poultry farms were infected with the bird flu virus until Feb 27. The poultry industry has incurred a loss of Tk 4,100 crore so far and almost 50 percent farms have already been closed.

Apart from this, a price hike of the raw materials of poultry feed, lower prices of chicken and eggs had a bad impact on the industry.

The speakers said that 89 percent of the rural people rear chickens at home. The poultry industry saw a turning point in 1994.

The present investment in this sector is around Tk 13,000 crore and some 60 lakh people are working in it. Some 3.20 lakh tonnes of meat and 5,200 million eggs are produced in 1.5 lakh poultry farms a year.

The programme demanded that the government provide farm owners with loans on easy terms, register all farms and set up new farms in line with proposed rules, strengthen the monitoring system and spray medicine on vehicles carrying poultry and eggs.