Alappuzha: The animal husbandry department issued an alert to duck and poultry farmers and its regional centres in the district, especially in Kuttanad, in the wake of a Bird Flu case that was confirmed in Karnataka. Farmers in this bird-flu ravaged district have been very attentive to the health of their stock. The alert was issued to the district after it witnessed a devastating bird flu outbreak in November 2014 resulting in culling of at least 1 lakh ducks.
Dr J. Felicita, district in-charge, animal husbandry department, said that all farmers and centres engaged in poultry and duck-breeding business were instructed to keep a close tab on the birds to identify any characteristic changes.
“The alert was issued as a precautionary measure to prevent outbreak of bird flu. However, there is no ban imposed on transporting products to either Karnataka or Tamil Nadu from Alappuzha. There is also no restriction to procure birds, eggs, ducks and feeds from Karnataka. The alert was issued not only in Alappuzha district, but the entire state,” she said.
Bird flu was detected in a poultry farm at Molkera in Humnabad in Bidar district of Karnataka recently. In a follow-up action, the animal husbandry department in Tamil Nadu had banned all poultry products, including chicken, turkey, duck, duck manure and chicken feed the other day from Kerala and Karnataka.
Samuel Pallipad, secretary, All Kerala Joint Duck Farmers’ Society, pointed out that there would be no impact on Kerala farmers due to the ban by Tamil Nadu. Kerala does not export chicken and ducks to either Karnataka or Tamil Nadu. But they often bring seedlings in bulk from Kuttanad for rearing.
They will bring back the matured ducks to Kuttanad for sale during season as there is no lucrative market. Nevertheless, Tamil Nadu has of late developed their own market. So they have come to depend upon Kuttanad farmers only for healthy ducklings called Chara and Chembally fondly called Kuttanadan dicks,” he says. .
According to the AHD data, Kuttanad, the hub of duck breeding in the state, is having as many as 650 registered large scale duck farmers. Thankachan Kaitharam, a farmer from Nedumudy, says they were extremely conscious about the alert. No bird in our area has shown any changes. And we are following strictly the instruction given by the AHD,” he said, who is currently rearing 10,000 ducks.
However, K.T. Kuttapan from Alappuzha, who lost all his 25,640 ducks following outbreak, seems to be little bit scary rearing large number of ducks. Kuttappan, who used to breed 30,000-50,000 ducklings every season, has chosen only 15,000 ducklings last season. "I am very vigilant since the alert came. There has been no change in the health of the ducks so far," he said.
