The Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) is awaiting permission from the US Food Corp (USFD) to ship samples taken from stricken Muscovy ducklings for testing, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO) Dr Dwight Walrond told Stabroek News.
GLDA last Saturday announced that they had closed their hatchery after recording an increase in mortality of Muscovy ducklings. Samples were taken from the ducklings to determine the mysterious illness, which has ravaged the Muscovy flocks along the coast.
Walrond told Stabroek News that after becoming aware of the illness, they made contact with their counterparts overseas and were referred to the Cornell University Research Centre in the US.
“Duck diseases are not common in this part of the world… The countries we have made contact with, they referred us to Cornell University Research Centre in the US… for the samples to get in [the] US, they (the university) would have to [issue] an import permit approved by the state,” Walrond explained.
He explained that the samples can leave the country within 24 hours of the approval. They are working closely with the USFD and the university to meet the criteria for exporting the samples.
“Every week we are going through this with them and we…have to meet the requirements to get the samples in. Some of the things they are asking us to send the samples with are not available locally, so local suppliers, they have to make contact with overseas suppliers,” the DCEO said, and explained that they are working around the clock to meet the requirements to have the samples sent to the university research centre.
Walrond further informed this newspaper that they are currently carrying out their own trial in a controlled environment, where they are tracking the progress of the birds that are infected with the disease. He said that since the illness is new to this part of the world, there is no substantial information to work with. Despite that, he said they have shared some precautionary measures with farmers to assist them.
“We have nothing to work with because this situation is new to us and we have never had a reported case before this,” he stated.
“It is a small group of farmers who accounts for the large market that are affected. We have found that eggs hatched from our breeders are not affected. But it is the small group of farmers who breed their own eggs that are affected, Walrond pointed out.
According to a GLDA notice appearing in Saturday’s Guyana Chronicle, its surveillance team has seen an increased mortality rate of the ducklings being hatched at the facility and the GLDA says it has also been told by some farmers that a “similar occurrence was taking place on a number of farms throughout the various regions.”
The GLDA said that the high mortality rates were recorded primarily in the Muscovy breed of ducklings, generally between the ages of two to three weeks. To date, it said that it has not received reports of high mortality in adult Muscovy ducks and other breeds such as Pekin and the Kunshan.
“The ducklings most affected are from the farms that toll hatch at the GLDA hatchery, therefore, as a result of this unusual occurrence, the GLDA is currently conducting an active surveillance exercise throughout all 5 coastal regions and [is] monitoring the breeding flocks of the affected farmers. We are hereby seeking the cooperation of the duck farmers to conduct the surveillance exercise,” the GLDA notice said.
Duck rearers first became aware of the issue approximately six weeks ago. Most farmers said that when they first experienced the ducklings dying, they believed it was an issue with their pens and they took the necessary precautions. Nonetheless, the ducklings kept dying and as such, they suspected something was amiss and reported it to the GLDA.
In most cases, large farmers, after hatching the eggs, would retail to smaller farmers and businesses that retail poultry.
The farmers also said that they have seen mature ducks that were next to the ducklings losing their feathers and this led them to believe that the illness is an airborne disease.
The GLDA notice said that the duck farming community can rest assured that the entity has the full support of the Board of Directors and the Ministry of Agriculture and is doing everything possible to have this matter resolved.
It said that it would welcome any information from the farming community in this regard and can be contacted on 220 6556 or 220 6557 or by email at glda1910@gmail.com
