In the first week of January, in the Kottayam and Anappuzha districts of Kerala, nearly 12,000 ducks died of avian influenza better known as the bird flu, and 40,000 more birds were set to be culled. Thereafter the bird flu swept across Maharashtra, Haryana and Chhattisgarh where bird deaths were reported in poultry farms and more birds were being culled to prevent the spread of the flu. Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, also reported the death of migratory birds, crows and pigeons, besides poultry birds.  

Panchkula in Haryana is known as the poultry hub from where eggs and chicken are supplied to many nearby states. Layer chickens (egg-laying birds) were killed in Barwala, Panchkula. According to the ministry of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying, in the last 30 days, a total of 4,30,267 birds perished in Panchkula’s Barwala region in Haryana, after which the samples were sent to Bhopal for investigation, where it was confirmed that bird flu had done them in. Thereafter, 1,66,128 more layer birds were culled. 

In Haryana, about Rs 14,95,150 was announced as compensation for poultry farmers at the rate of Rs 90 per poultry bird. Fifty per cent of the compensation is being borne by the state government and the other fifty per cent by the centre. 

However, poultry farmers are far from happy with the government compensation of Rs 90 per poultry bird, saying it is a paltry amount that has remained the same since 2013! 

Insubstantial compensation

“For several years, the government has been paying the same rate under the compensation,” pointed out Sanjay Sharma, secretary of the Poultry Farmers (Broiler) Welfare Federation and a poultry businessman himself. “The price of a chick is about forty rupees, the government is paying twenty rupees for it; similarly, it takes anything between two hundred and fifty to three hundred rupees to raise a layer hen, while the government is paying only ninety rupees for it,” he said. The farmer will not even be able to repay his loans with such poor compensation, maintained Sharma. “The government must think of improving the compensation amount,” he added. 

Between 2006 and 2015, a compensation of 24.32 crore rupees has been paid so far to people for culling birds to prevent the spread of bird flu, according to the ministry of animal husbandry and dairying.  

The avian flu has been a huge blow to the poultry industry that was already staggering from the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The nightmare returns

For many, it is a horrifying replay of the bird flu of 2006. That year, 9.4 lakh birds were culled between February and April, due to the bird flu outbreak at dozens of layer poultry farms in Janve and Ichhakheda villages of Navapur and Jalgaon district in Maharashtra. In the same year, 92,000 thousand birds were culled in Gujarat and 9, 000 birds were killed in Madhya Pradesh. Compensation of Rs 270 lakh, Rs 32 lakh and three lakhs respectively were made out to the poultry farmers of the three states. 

“In 2006, the bird flu took off from Nandurbar and within two-four days, it was confirmed in Jalgaon,” Dhananjay Parkale, additional commissioner of the animal husbandry department in Maharashtra, told Gaon Connection. He recalled how the department had paid Rs 40 for each big bird that was culled, while Rs 20 was given as compensation for each small bird. “This time, the central government has declared ninety rupees for the larger bird, seventy rupees for the broiler bird and the same twenty rupees for the smaller chick,” he said adding that while in 2006 it was the Maharashtra state government which had given the compensation, this time the central government has fixed the compensation. 

“In 2006, there was culling at every single poultry farm of Navapur,” Satish Gavit, a layer poultry farmer for 20 years from Pangaran in Nandurbar district, told Gaon Connection. At that time, Gavit lost 30,000 chickens and was paid Rs 40 a bird as compensation. “This was far below the cost of rearing a layer bird. It took two years for my poultry farm to recover after the culling,” he recalled. Most poultry farmers in the district suffered the same fate and many of them never resumed poultry farming, he said. In 2006, there were 28 bird flu epicentres in Nandurbar and Jalgaon. 

This year, in the poultry farms in Parbhani and Latur districts in Maharashtra, 5,550 layer chickens have been so far culled.

The records of the birds that are being culled are being compiled. “Based upon these records, the proposal is made and sent to the central government, after which it will provide fifty per cent of the compensation while the state government will pitch in with the other half. Thereafter, the compensation is sent to the poultry farmer’s account,” explained Parkale.

Compensation

The ministry of animal husbandry and dairying has fixed the compensation amount at Rs 20 for layer hen chicks, Rs 90 for large chickens, Rs 20 for broiler chickens, Rs 70 for big broiler hen, Rs 5 for quail chicks, Rs 10 for big quail, Rs 35 for duck chicks, Rs 135 for big ducks, Rs 20 for guinea fowl chicks, Rs 90 for the big guinea fowl, Rs 60 rupees for turkey chicks and Rs 160 for a big turkey. The ministry is offering three rupees per destroyed egg, and for the destruction of poultry feed, it has earmarked, Rs 12 per kilo. The compensation was last updated in 2013.  

Better off in Kerala

Kerala that has been regularly visited by the bird fly since 2014 has a much higher compensation package. Currently, a compensation amount of Rs 200 for big birds and Rs 100 for small birds has been declared. Five rupees will be given per destroyed egg. “Kerala has so far done culling of ducks. Although the central government has declared compensation of thirty five rupees for small ducks and hundred and thirty five for big ducks, the Kerala government has earmarked two hundred rupees for big birds and a hundred rupees for the smaller birds. The amount will be soon sent to the farmers’ account,” Terence B Remidi, assistant director at the department of animal husbandry in Kerala, told Gaon Connection.

Read the story in Hindi.