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NAMAKKAL: Poultry farmers in Tamil Nadu, especially those in Namakkal district, have taken precautionary measures in the wake of bird flu outbreak in Kerala.
The Kerala animal husbandry department on Monday announced that thousands of ducks in Alappuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts died of bird flu.
Though there is no avian flu outbreak in Tamil Nadu, poultry farmers across the state have taken precautionary measures.
“We vaccinate the chicks without fail. But in the wake of the bird flu outbreak in Kerala, we have tightened biosecurity in all farms,” said P Nallathambi, president, Tamil Nadu Poultry Farmers Association.
According to the biosecurity method, all persons working in poultry farms should wear separate clothes and be sprayed with a medicine (a mix of an anti-viral drug and salt).
Similarly, persons coming from other places for business purpose should wash their hands and legs in the medicine before entering the farms.
“We are using the same method when it comes to vehicles transporting the chickens. All the wheels of the vehicles should be sprayed with the medicine,” he said.
Some poultry farmers feared that egg exports would be affected due to the bird flu outbreak. However, National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) sources allayed the fears saying egg exports would not be affected.
“Countries like Oman, Afghanistan and Algeria are still importing eggs from India even after the World Organization for Animal Health classified India as a bird flu affected country,” a top NECC officials told TOI on condition of anonymity.
