Alappuzha: While the district administration is compensating farmers for the ducks culled on account of bird flu, the farmers are also demanding to be compensated for the birds they lost in thousands to the flu before culling was done.
Compensation for only culled ducks will not make up for the loss they have suffered, they argue.
The All Kerala Joint Duck Farmers’ Society on Tuesday in fact demanded compensation for all ducks lost to the fever since April this year.
Said Mr Samuel Pallippad , state secretary of the society, “The government has fixed compensation of Rs. 100 for ducks less than two months old and Rs. 200 for those over two months. It will be a relief when the amount actually reaches the farmers and they begin to revive their businesses.”
The society is also demanding an efficient mechanism to estimate the number of ducks culled and the exact loss suffered by each farmer.
Farmer C O Thomas from Chennithala, says the compensation he has received is only enough to buy feed for his birds.
At least 4,000 ducks died before 15000 were culled. I can’t run my business if the government does not compensate me for the ducks I lost to the flu ,” he says.
Farmer KT Kuttappan, who lost as many as 15,000 ducks in Pongapadam in early November to bird flu, says the government’s decision to give compensation has given him fresh hope of reviving his business.
“I am spending sleepless nights currently because I see no way of returning the Rs 8 lakh loan I have taken from SBT, Edathwa branch. The compensation should be distributed as soon as possible. I have lost all my 25, 640 ducks,” he laments.
These farmers are not alone in their predicament as almost all the 398 registered large duck farmers are looking at a dismal future unless the government relents and comes to their rescue.
