Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said here on Tuesday that under the new regulations only trade in processed (slaughtered) poultry would be allowed.

He said live poultry could easily becoe carrier of the virus and thus a medium for the transmisson of he virus so that their transportation from one region to another needed to be stopped.

He said chickens that had been slaghtered, boiled or chlorinated were more protected against the bird flu virus.

"Therefore, poultry farms must eventually be integrated with poultry slaughter houses," he said after receiving US$500,000 worth of bird-flu-fighting equipment and materials from the South Korean government.

He said the regulations, however, would only be applied to large-scale poultry farms which would also have to be located away from residential areas.

The minister said the government would give assistance to people`s farms to build slaughter houses and the relevant licences.

The minister said the regulations would be made in cooperation with the trade ministry and were expected to be issued in two weeks` time.

Regarding people`s objections to the government`s poultry culling policy, the minister said the policy was not aimed at eradicating poultry but creating order in the poultry breeding sector.

Source: ANTARA News