Vietnam poultry industry to receive $10M
HANOI - The World Bank said Friday it was prepared to give Vietnam a $10 million loan to help aid in the recovery of a poultry industry ravaged by bird flu.
Also Friday, China's Agriculture Ministry said that it had confirmed suspected cases of a deadly strain of the flu in birds in seven more locations, including Shanghai.
Klaus Rohland, World Bank country director in Vietnam, said he is in discussions with government officials and is hoping to make the aid available as early as May.
"We'd be focused on the economic recovery phase," he said. "The short-term emergency needs are being covered by other U.N. agencies."
About 80 million chickens have been slaughtered across Asia, excluding China, to curb bird flu's spread, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said.
The human death toll on Friday stood at 19, all in Vietnam and Thailand.
The FAO warned that it still has not been controlled in several Asian countries.
"Cambodia, China, Indonesia and Laos continue to report new outbreaks in poultry," it said.
Chinese authorities in Shenzhen, a city in Guangdong bordering Hong Kong, have confirmed that bird flu killed black swans that recently died there, the statement said. Until now, most cases of bird flu have involved poultry, but bird reserves have been closed as a precaution out of fears the disease might be spread by migratory birds.
In Thailand, a leopard died from bird flu at a zoo some 44 miles south of Bangkok, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Prapat Panyachatraksa said Friday. An official said on condition of anonymity that the leopard may have eaten infected chicken.
More than 34 million of Vietnam's 250 million poultry stock have already died or were destroyed in an effort to keep the epidemic from spreading further.
"The bird flu which has ravaged farms across Asia has driven Vietnam's poultry industry to a standstill and cost the country losses of some $170 million so far," said Nguyen Dang Vang, director of the Poultry and Livestock Breeding Institute in Hanoi.
Vietnam is losing $4 million a day as result of efforts to halt the spread of the virus, according to the institute's estimates.
The World Bank assistance, which would cover a 12-18 month period, would not go toward direct compensation of farmers who have had to kill off their flocks, Rohland said. Instead, the money would be used to rehabilitate the sector.
"It could be for loans for farmers to buy new chickens or government grants," he said.
The money also would be used to strengthen the national veterinary system so Vietnam would be better prepared for the next disease outbreak, Rohland said.
The disease has been reported in 57 of the country's 64 provinces, but agriculture officials this week said they believe the epidemic is slowing down. No new provinces have reported outbreaks since Monday.
By Tini Tran - The Associated Press - February 13, 2004.
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