More than 60,000 poultry birds in the Ikorodu area of Lagos state have been affected by avian influenza, Mr. Olugbenga Ogunsetan, Executive Secretary of the Poultry Association of Nigeria, Lagos State chapter confirmed the news to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday.
Mr Olugbenga said that the areas affected is the Ikorodu area of the state, leading to price hikes in poultry birds in the area.
The government is planning to compensate all affected farmers to encourage those with the disaster also report the incident on their farms. Permanent secretary of of the State Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Olajide Basorun said;
The Lagos State Government, in collaboration with the Federal Government, is already thinking of ways to support these farmers, whose poultry were affected by the scourge.Many economies have shut down because of this avian influenza and these economies have dependants, which mean a lot of people have lost their livelihoods.
Government is mindful of that and is working out modalities to compensate the farmers so that others, who have the flu and have not reported or are under reporting, will be encouraged to come forward.
The permanent secretary also said that the government does not want farmers to go about selling the birds with the disease, and at the moment, the disease is contained. And also said that the ministry also has a swift response team that go to farms where the flu is reported to depopulate the farms.