|
Chinese farmers paid $24m
17/01/2006 11:25 - (SA)
Beijing - China said on Tuesday that 32 outbreaks of bird flu last year killed 154 600 poultry and led to the culling of more than 22.5 million birds as the country fought to curb the spread of the virus.
Farmers received more than 200m yuan (about $24.4m) as compensation for losses in 2005, the official Xinhua News Agency said at a two-day international donors' conference in Beijing.
Xinhua said that was twice the amount paid out to farmers in 2004, when the Chinese government first confirmed that the disease had surfaced in poultry on the mainland.
The conference in Beijing hopes to raise at least $1.5bn. The World Bank said this amount is needed to fight the H5N1 virus.
Bird flu has killed at least 79 people in Asia and Turkey since 2003. Five of mainland China's eight human cases have died.
Most of the human infections have been traced back to contact with sick birds and Chinese health officials have warned that more fatalities are inevitable if the country does not curb outbreaks in poultry.
Outbreaks in birds occurred in 13 provinces in China in 2005, a document released by the Chinese government at the conference said. About 28 outbreaks have been reported since October 19.
- AP
|
News
