Broiler chickens at poultry farms in Regions Three, Four, Five, Six and Ten have now been inoculated in an attempt to tackle a chicken disease detected last year.
A Government Information Agency (GINA) press release said the inoculation is a precautionary measure government had taken after the virus was detected early last year. Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud launched the programme at Hague, Region Three on the recommendation of University of the West Indies Regional Poultry Specialist Dr Gariel Brown. Brown’s findings indicated that the deaths were linked to a chicken disease while inadequate nutrition was found to be the cause of the stunted growth. Under a $5M government programme, one million Infection Inclusion Body Hepatitis (IBH) vaccines were dispensed on farms rearing about 300 chickens. The vaccines, along with vitamin supplements, were administered to stunted chickens between one and ten days old.
As a result of this intervention, GINA said, 2,700 chickens were vaccinated in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and 100 packets of vitamin supplements distributed while 400 vaccines and 280 packets of supplements were distributed in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica). In Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) 200 chickens were vaccinated and 398 vitamin packets distributed while in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) 1,487 vaccines were administered and 500 packets of vitamins distributed. Four thousand chickens were inoculated in Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice) and 142 packets of supplements distributed.
The vaccination programme was undertaken after a government task force was set up to investigate and address the challenges in the poultry sector and to develop long-term proposals for its development. Other measures being implemented to develop the sector include the development of a standard that will be drafted into legislation. The task force, after consultations with stakeholders, is expected to submit a detailed report to the minister on the current status of the sector and the plans for its sustained development. GINA said the livestock sector contributes an average of 2.2% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and growth in the sector has been averaging 4.7% per annum since 2001 compared to 3.6% and 1.2% for the agricultural GDP and total GDP respectively.
