Imminent crackdown on chicken hatcheries for non-vaccinations

May 12, 2010 News

By Leonard Gildarie

Government says it is not ruling out the possibility of closing any hatcheries which deliberately refuse to vaccinate its chickens.
And the country is facing mounting challenges in tapping into the regional markets with red tape at the CARICOM levels.
The disclosures were made on Monday during a tour of the newly re-opened DIDCO Feed Mill at Friendship, East Bank Demerara.
According to Managing Director, Deo Singh, the company is pressing for hatcheries to step up their vaccination requirements. Hatcheries are mandated to ensure baby chicks receive at least two vaccinations to prevent diseases and ensure an accepted growth rate standard. Singh, singling out Bounty Farms as one of the few farms complying, said that farmers are losing money hands down with chickens dying and also not achieving the maximum weight.
DIDCO has been complying, he stressed.
Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, acknowledged that there is a problem.
About a year back, it was found that government’s monitoring activities on hatcheries were limited since it could not legally enforce the vaccination requirements.
This has since been changed and the regulations allow for inspectors to even shut some operations for non-compliance.
The situation is a funny one, Persaud noted. Some farmers readily accept offers to pay less for non-vaccination. However, for paying $5 less on each chicken, farmers can lose more than $5,000 in not getting the maximum weight, and in many cases, facing the death of chickens for health reasons brought about by the non-vaccination.
Not only are these actions endangering the livelihoods of the farmers, they are jeopardizing the entire industry, the Minister said.
Meanwhile, responding to questions of exports in the region, both the Minister and the DIDCO Managing Director expressed frustration of the extensive red tape by CARICOM.
There are importers from Trinidad willing to take Guyana’s produce but virtually little progress is being made with the applications.
Guyana, and specifically DIDCO, have the capacity to meet a great percentage of regional demands with the company’s operations having capabilities of preparing 6,000 chickens per hour.