The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), has revealed they paid a little over GHc 1 million in compensation to farmers whose birds were destroyed as part of the Ministry’s efforts to fight and control the spread of bird flu last year.
In 2015, five regions; the Greater Accra, Central, Western, Ashanti and Volta Regions recorded the outbreak resulting in the destruction of over 9,000 birds.
[contextly_sidebar id=”C8GCToU6VaNgJUxBfX5JUsh6WOUjHuia”]Government subsequently released GHc 11 million to assist in controlling the outbreak through the payment of compensation, and the provision of logistics.
During a meet the press series in Accra on Thursday, the sector Minster, Alhaji Limuna Muniru, indicated that birds destroyed represented a meager 0.13 percent of the poultry owned by the affected farmers.
“The total number of birds destroyed is estimated at 9,919 as at the end of 2015, representing 0.13 percent of estimated poultry of affected farmers. As part of measures, an amount of GHc1, 067,849 has been paid so far to compensate affected farmers whose poultry had been destroyed as of September 2015.”
Extension to be carried out via electronic mediums
The Minster also stated that MOFA would be adopting the use of ICT gadgets and WhatsApp platforms to enable it bolster more preventive efforts related to the spread of bird flu in the country.
These innovations will serve as extension mediums that will update farmers on measures to take to curb the spread of the virus.
“MOFA has adopted new and innovative methods to reach more farmers. We have created an ICT platform called ‘EAgricultre’ to reach more farmers. Over 50,000 farmers are now hooked onto the extension website and extension WhatsApp platform.”
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana