According to Poultry Indonesia, agriculture authorities have said that Jakarta will clear out smaller scale poultry industries by 2010 as part of its efforts to prevent more deaths from bird flu.

Muhammad Azhar, the Agriculture Ministry's coordinator for bird flu control, said only six poultry processing plants located on Jakarta's outskirts would be eligible to distribute chicken meat to traditional markets. Two years ago, the city issued a bylaw restricting poultry production as a first step to achieve their goal.

"We hope by 2010 no live chickens will be sold at traditional markets. It's not an easy job for Jakarta, with its huge population and high density, to get rid of poultry industries, since these small-scale enterprises are the main income for many people. But this challenging target has to be met."

The planned restructuring of chicken farms and processing plants in the capital is in line with key points in the 2007 much-praised bylaw on poultry restriction. Critics have pointed out the government's inattention to enforcing the law.

Mr Azhar, however, did not say whether the city would provide compensation or alternative ventures for current chicken processing business owners who will be forced to close down their businesses.

The Jakarta Husbandry and Fisheries Agency estimated in 2007 that about 700 commercial poultry farms were raising and slaughtering chickens in the city. Two-thirds of them were located in Central and East Jakarta.

The city also plans to work closely with neighboring cities like Tangerang in Banten and Bekasi in West Java. Both supply large quantities of live chickens and meat to Jakarta. "Chicken consumption in Jakarta is quite high. It's around 700,000 chickens every day and most are raised outside Jakarta," he told Poultry Indonesia.