Prime Minister’s Office director general Ilan Cohen today convened the director generals of the Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Defense and Finance to discuss the impact of bird flu, which has spread in Israel in the past two days. There is concern that unless more intensive measures are taken, the disease could spread throughout the country.
Cohen decided to convene all the relevant officials in order to act decisively to stop the spread of bird flu, and to examine how the disease might affect the economy.
At the orders of Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, it was decided to set aside government allocations to compensate affected farms in the Western Negev, Lachish area, and Jerusalem area, and to prepare measures to stop the spread of the disease.
The Ministry of Agriculture Veterinary and Animal Health Services examined suspected cases of bird flu at Kibbutz Nir and Moshav Amioz in the Western Negev, where there was a high mortality of poultry. The tests were positive. Farmers in the two communities are now worried that they will suffer financially from the failure to take preventative measures in time. Both communities are located within 10 kilometers of the first cases of bird flu at Ein Hashlosha and Holit.
The Ministry of Agriculture estimates that at least 800,000-900,000 poultry will have to be destroyed. Preliminary estimates by the Israel Egg and Poultry Board, the poultry industry is liable to lose NIS 120 million from public panic and the fear of buying poultry and poultry products. Israel Egg and Poultry Board managing director Yaakov Cohen said poultry farmers had not yet received any compensation from the government. He said until bird flu was declared a natural disaster, poultry farmers would suffer tens of millions of shekels in direct damage.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on March 20, 2006
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2006