Johor Agriculture and Agro Based Industries Committee chairman Ismail Mohamed said the errant farm owners were slapped with compounds amounting to RM155,000.

"We are in the midst of conducting a fly elimination operation and this includes 259 farms statewide," he said adding that the operation commenced in October last year.

He said initially hot spot farms which had fly problems were identified throughout the state.

"We then formed a special team equipped with logistical equipment and fly eradication equipment to visit the hot spots and get rid of the infestation," he said adding that action was taken against farms found infesting flies.

Mr Mohamed said there were several causes why the fly situation has escalated but the main reasons were because the farms were close to residential areas and farms with outdated chicken coops were difficult to clean.

"Other reasons could be because the caretakers do not have Good Animal Husbandry Practices and other caretakers who do not care to eliminate the fly problem and are only bent on monetary gains," he said in reply to questions posed by Datuk Samsol Bari Jamali (BN-Semarang) at the Johor State Assembly sitting here.

Mr Mohamed said the state had a total of 821 licensed farms throughout the state and despite efforts put in by the state veterinary department, the issue was still persistent.