Kurdish Poultry Industry Picks Up Slowly
IRAQ - Poultry experts say the industry is slowly recovering in Sulaimaniyah, months after the government stemmed an outbreak of the deadly bird flu virus.Locally-sourced poultry and eggs, which the government pulled from the market when the H5N1 strain of avian flu killed at least one person in January, have returned to the markets and shops in this northeastern Kurdish city.
Poultry farmers suffered heavy loss after sales stopped virtually overnight. While cases of the disease emerged in other parts of Iraq, the authorities in Sulaimaniyah have not reported any new bird flu scares since January.
But farmers producing poultry meat and eggs say the revival has not been easy, and that the industry lost millions of dollars because of the government's limited ability to cull birds.
"The market has suffered," said Sarwar Kareem, head of the Kurdistan Poultry Association. "It needs another year to recover because there isn't any guarantee that the disease can be dealt with."
Source: iwpr.net
22 June 2006
1 minute read
