The Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association of Nigeria (NVMA) has appealed to the Federal Government to conclude payment of compensation to poultry farmers affected by Avian Influenza outbreak four months ago.

The National President of NVMA, Dr Sunday Edgar, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.

Edgar said that the payment of compensation to affected farmers was critical to eradicating the disease as it would encourage others to report fresh cases in their farms.

He said that there were four categories of farmers, whose farms were affected in the outbreak of the disease in the country.

Edgar said that about 38 farms and one zoological garden were affected, when the bird flu was first reported.

He said that first category of farmers were paid N130 million at the rate of N1, 450 per bird, for the depopulation of their birds.

``The mode of payment was after depopulation, figures were collected through filling forms, verification was completed and the money was paid to the farmer’s account directly by the Federal Government.

``In the second and third batches, a team was sent by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to the affected farms, depopulation of birds and eggs were done without compensation,’’ he said.

He said in spite of dropped in compensation price initially announced by the immediate past Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, from N1,450 to N750, majority of the farmers were not paid.

``The Federal Government decided that it will give N500 while the state governments will provide N250 to make up the figure so that the budget will not be solely on the Federal Government,’’ he said.

He also said that there was no explanation for the change in the compensation price, adding that another set of compilation of affected farmers was ongoing.

``In all, the farms that were affected is 437 and one zoological garden in 18 states and birds depopulated amounted to 1.5 million,’’ Edgar said.

He urged the present administration to verify outstanding claims and pay the necessary compensation as promised by the past administration.

``Since we have not yet eradicated the disease, it is possible some poultry farmers may get the outbreak and will refuse to report because of their experienced with government.

``New government should speedily verify those claims and then pay compensation to ensure that we eliminate the disease.

``In 2006 when we had the outbreak, it was curtailed and was eradicated. We can still do so,’’ Edgar said.

``On whether people can eat poultry in spite of the virus, Edgar said that since the virus was fragile to cooking temperature, there was no risk eating poultries if properly cooked. (NAN)

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