Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser for Fisheries and Livestock Manik Lal Samaddar on Thursday said the government will cull only the chickens of the bird flu- affected poultry farms in future on an experimental basis, reports agency.

The poultry farms within one kilometre of the affected ones will be kept under monitoring, and backyard poultry within half kilometre will be culled, he told a seminar at Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute [BLRI].

Samaddar said a notification would be issued soon to this effect on the basis of the report of a committee formed in this regard.

He said considering the financial losses incurred by the farmers this year, the government has withdrawn duty on the import of poultry feed, simplified the bank loan process and lowered the interest rate.

BLRI Director General Dr Jahangir Alam presided over the seminar on “Outbreak, Control and Prevention of Avian Influenza in Bangladesh,” said a press release.

Director General of Department of Livestock Sunil Chandra Ghosh and former director general Dr Nazir Ahmed also addressed the seminar, among others. Prof Dr Mansurul Amin of Bangladesh Agriculture University and BLRI Senior Scientific Officer Dr M Giasuddin presented the keynote paper.

Among other issues, procrastination in the culling of chickens, unplanned slaughtering of chickens in markets and mismanagement in waste disposal were mentioned in the keynote paper as the main causes for the spread of bird flu.

To prevent these, it was recommended that there should have a general policy for setting up poultry farms, and registration of farms should be made compulsory.

After the seminar, the special assistant to chief adviser visited the national bird flu reference laboratory, the press release said.