The coming harvest season has agriculture authorities in the Mekong Delta worried about further outbreaks of bird flu as ducks are usually allowed free run of paddy fields at this time.

Agriculture department representatives of 32 provinces from central Da Nang City to southernmost Ca Mau Province were among the participants.

The ministry warned of bird flu spreading further in the Mekong Delta after breaking out among ducks in Ca Mau, Soc Trang and Hau Giang provinces.

“The most important task of provinces in the Mekong Delta is to control bird flu among ducks,” said Deputy Agriculture Minister Diep Kinh Tan.

“The delta will harvest its rice crop within 30 days and the practice of allowing ducks to feed through many wet paddies would facilitate outbreak of the disease,” he said.

Head of An Giang Province’s animal health agency, Mai Hoang Viet, said more free vaccines for ducks should be made available in the Mekong Delta.

“It’s really unsafe when the policy of encouraging safe animal husbandry offers free vaccines for flocks of less than 500 ducks,” he said.

Deputy director of Kon Tum Province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nguyen Huu Thap, said the practice of letting cattle wander around in the Central Highlands also posed a clear threat for outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease.

He also said the compensation for culling infected cattle was too low and many farmers were unwilling to report if their animals had contracted the disease.

As of Wednesday, bird flu had spread among ducks and chickens in 11 communes in seven provinces – Quang Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Hau Giang, Soc Trang and Ca Mau provinces, with nearly 22,000 of the birds being culled.

Meanwhile, foot-and-mouth disease has infected 826 cows and buffaloes in Son La, Hoa Binh, Quang Binh, Kon Tum and Long An provinces, 111 of which were cattle provided for poverty alleviation projects in Kon Tum.

Reported by Thanh Dung