Davao Region still bird flu free

(Stock photo)
(Stock photo)

WHILE there is no reported contamination of avian flu in the region, the Department of Agriculture in Davao Region (DA-Davao) advised poultry farm owners to follow the sanitary measures to avoid the spread of the virus.

DA-Davao Region recently released guidelines to curb the potential spread of the H5N6 virus which infected some 3,000 quail heads in a farm in Jaen, Nueva Ecija. It caused the culling of 12,000 quail heads in the area.

Among the measures that must be implemented by backyard and commercial poultry farms are to practice strict good animal husbandry and biosecurity measures, to administer vaccines against Newcastle disease and other diseases, to regularly wash hands, and to ensure to let their chicken drink clean water.

“Kanang tubig nga kahibalo sila asa ang source, healthy ang source. Dili dapat gikan sa sapa kay naa man guy uban nga ingon ana kay manok lang man ni, kuhaon lang nako ang tubig sa sapa (They should know where they source the water. It should not come from the rivers),” DA-Davao information officer Noel T. Provido said.

“Dapat clean source of water kay mao man gud na ang makacause og infection (The source of the water should be clean because dirty waters are usually the cause of the infection),” he added.

Provido also urged the poultry farmers to immediately report any mortality to the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) or nearest municipal veterinary offices.

In an interview with 87.5 Davao City Disaster Radio, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said the concern on the avian flu was referred to her office but they have yet to discuss the steps to be taken.

Based on the data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), there were 11,211,000 chicken heads in the region as of July 2018. It is a decline of 3.59 percent from the 11,629,000 heads in 2017.

“As of July 1, 2018, the native/improved chicken had the largest stock share with 66.73 percent to the total chicken inventory in Davao Region. This was followed by broiler chicken with a 20.35 percent share. Chicken layers had the smallest share with only 12.91 percent to the total stocks,” PSA said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the duck heads inventory in the region dropped to 533,000 heads in 2018 from 541,000 heads in 2017, a drop by 1.44 percent.

“Out of the total inventory, about 91 percent or 486,396 birds were raised in backyard farms while the remaining 9 percent or 46,677 birds were grown in commercial farms,” the PSA said.

“The reduction in stocks was traced from both the backyard and commercial farms,” the agency added.

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