March 23: The latest spell of bird flu, which was first reported in January this year, has now spread to 11 districts. Despite the outbreak, the Department of Livestock Services says that it does not have the required budget for the prevention and control of the disease. 

Information officer of the department as well as senior livestock development officer Dr Chandra Dhakal said that looking at the damage at present, an additional budget of Rs 60 to 70 million is required for infection control and compensation. 

The budget allocated for bird flu control and compensation in the current fiscal year (FY) is not sufficient as the virus has already caused damages more than the budget set aside for the prevention and control of the disease.

The government has allocated Rs 12.1 million for the control and prevention of bird flu as well as to provide compensation for the poultry farmers. However, the department said that the budget is not enough. 

Dhakal said that the details of the damage in 11 districts have been received and now the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development is preparing to seek budget from the Ministry of Finance. 

The infection has spread in Morang, Kathmandu, Sunsari, Udayapur, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Sindhupalchok, Chitwan, Kaski, Parsa, and Dhanusha districts. At present, 64,872 birds, 27,371 eggs, 15,094 kg feed and 22 kg chicken have been destroyed in these districts. 

Dinesh Raj Mishra, general secretary of the Nepal Poultry Federation said that it is unfortunate to have problems in controlling the infection due to lack of budget for the sector which contributes 4.5 percent  to the GDP. 

There’s inadequate budgets for controlling the spread in the infected area. On the other hand, lack of manpower in the department has made it difficult for the authorities to find out the places that have been infected. This has further increased the infection rate. 

Even when the farmers try to get tested for bird flu, it is not possible for timely action due to the lack of human resources.

In order to control the infection immediately, the department said that it is necessary to amend the Monitoring Plan and Standard Operating Procedures of the government in line with the laws prevalent at the federal, provincial and local levels and the Bird Flu Control Regulations, 2078. Apart from this, a budget should be allocated in each province to control the infection, strengthen inter-state coordination, and coordination with the Ministry of Finance for resource management. 

The outbreak of bird flu was first reported in Nepal in Jhapa on January 16, 2009. Since then, it has spread to more than 250 places in Nepal, according to government statistics. One person died in Nepal in 2019 due to the infection, which can also be transmitted to human beings.