Zoning of Poultry Farms To Take Off in Thailand - THAILAND - Poultry farms in Thailand will be zoned as measures to keep chicken safe from disease following the bird flu outbreak was discussed, Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob said on Sunday.

Veterinarians from four universities proposed zoning during a meeting at the Livestock Development Department yesterday.

The meeting was attended by Newin and the department's director-general, Yukol Limlaemthong.

The meeting concluded that zoning was necessary to ensure control of poultry diseases.

In the zones designated for poultry raising for export and local consumption, tough health and safety measures would be applied, Newin said.

"Even if you raise two chickens as pets, you will have to follow the same standards required for those zones," Newin said.

Although they would not have to follow all the requirements of large poultry farms, owners of pet chickens or small-time chicken raisers would have to adopt certain safety measures, such as raising their birds in standard cages, he said.

"After the zones are designated, raisers in those areas will have to follow the measures or face legal action", he added.

The master plan will be discussed at a public hearing to be held on Thursday at a Bangkok hotel. Academics, poultry farmers and exporters are expected to attend.

Zones designated for poultry control could cover an entire province, such as Saraburi, Newin said.

Poultry raised outside of the zones designated for export will not get certification from the Livestock Development Department, which is required by importing countries.

Zoning was expected to help reduce the impact on the poultry industry if and when another crisis takes place, Newin said.

"We may be able to export poultry from some zones. It's not like today when we can't even export cooked chicken. The damage is large-scale," he added.

Yesterday's meeting also raised concerns over the possibility of expensive fighting cocks spreading the disease.

Newin said that some owners of fighting cocks had recently been trying to smuggle their birds out of control areas, fearing that their birds would be destroyed.

The master plan would look at the registration and tagging of fighting cocks.

Poultry exporters and representatives from major importing countries would meet later this week to discuss poultry exports, Sompol Kiatpaiboon, an advisor to Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, said yesterday.

Representatives of poultry importers from Japan, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the European Union will tour the poultry farms, he said.

In a related development, the Agriculture Ministry is set to change the designation of most of the 158 bird-flu areas from "yellow" to "green", a source said yesterday.

In some of those areas, the culling of chickens continued, making it unlikely that these areas will be declared free from bird flu anytime soon, the source said.

Source: eFeedLink - 17th Febuary 2004