Kerala: Duck farmers seek quick relief

Alappuzha: With animal husbandry minister K. Raju on Wednesday announcing culling of all ducks in the bird flu-infected flocks, farmers of Kuttanad have lost all hopes. The authorities may cull over two lakh ducks that could have raked in some Rs 10 crore. They now demand immediate distribution of compensation. Though the minister, who visited the worst hit areas, offered relaxation of the ban on duck movements after getting a no-objection cetificate from vets, the farmers are still in panic as new cases continue to surface.

Exhausted of resources, they now demand interest-free bank loans and free ration besides a compensation of Rs 300 per matured duck and Rs 150 for below 60-day old. Rapid response teams (RRT) of six members each have killed 38,312 birds in Kuttanad alone till Tuesday. Farmers who met him made a slew of suggestions to revive business. B. Rajasekaran of All Kerala Duck Farmer’s Society said none of the promises made during a similar crisis in 2014, including interest-free loans, insurance, subsidies and a national institute of duck disease research along with institute of virology here was fulfilled.

In his memorandum to the minister, he pointed out that the registration of duck farmers had not been adequately done during the 2014 outbreak, saying there were only 650 farmers registered with the department. He wanted to enrol all farmers in Kuttanad. “It’s important to get a highly secure lab here as it takes many days to get results of strains from other states,” he said. "Hundreds of people, from hatcheries to retailers, are involved in the business."

There is only one government hatchery in Kuttanad producing only 15,000 ducklings a week. So people heavily depend on the private hatcheries who create artificial demand and charge higher. They had to spend Rs 19 on each duckling this year.

Culling continues:

Meanwhile, Rapid Response Force team culled 9573 ducks in Kuttanad on Wednesday. In Kottayam, the district animal husbandry department culled 2,785 ducks in Aarpookkara, panchayat. 4,340 ducks died on the day due to bird flu, officials said.