INDONESIA: 50 percent of traditional markets that slaughter and sell chickens are highly prone to outbreaks of bird flu virus

National Commission on Bird Flu has revealed that 50 percent of traditional markets that slaughter and sell chickens are highly prone to outbreaks of bird flu virus.
Head of the commission, Bayu Krisnamurthi, told there were many such vulnerable markets in Jakarta. Bayu said bird flu could spread easily because the markets did not set special zones for slaughtering, selling and accommodating live chickens. Between 2002 and 2008, the Agriculture Ministry reported 13 million poultry had been culled in 31 provinces. Only two provinces -- Maluku Utara and Gorontalo --- were apparently free of the disease.

The ministry's director general of husbandry, Tjeppy D.Soedjana,said, in controlling the spread of the virus the ministry needed to focus on Banten, Jakarta, Bali, West Java, East Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, South Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Maluku, Papua and Nusa Tenggara. Bayu said there was a “strong indication” that poultry markets across western Java were affected. Flouting of market regulations could give rise to a new main source of bird-to-human infections, he added. “Markets with no zoning, in which the required three separate zones — for poultry pens, slaughterhouses and retail outlets — are not implemented, could pose higher risks of becoming a source of infections, as could markets using the same facilities for multiple species,” Bayu said.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a bird flu discussion between the Indonesian government and its international partners. “Our discussion highlighted the need to focus on live bird markets in dealing with bird flu. The national committee and international institutions will therefore intensify efforts to manage these markets,” he said.

He added since the H5N1 virus was first detected in humans in Indonesia in 2005, most bird-to-human infections were found to have stemmed from traditional methods of rearing poultry at home, with fewer cases caused by contact with poultry in markets.

Live poultry markets, however, were a proven threat in the spread of the virus, Bayu warned, citing a May 2006 case in Karo regency, North Sumatra, which killed six residents.

An anti-bird flu campaign at poultry markets was launched in early 2007, with market operators told to organize their poultry sections into the three separate zones as required.

However, the call got a hostile reception from local authorities and market operators — the parties authorized to manage the markets, Bayu pointed out. “They’re worried about the economic impact of the move. How will it affect the income of sellers? What about its impact on poultry suppliers? “The bird flu issue is a complicated matter. We have to take note of cultural and socioeconomic factors when dealing with it,” he said.

The number of bird-to-bird and bird-to-human infections have declined in the country since 2007. As of October this year, there have been 112 deaths from 137 recorded infections. Just recently, 17 suspected bird flu patients, hospitalized in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, were cleared of having the virus.

Despite the drop in infection numbers, a bird flu pandemic still threatens the country. The meeting was held to prepare for such a contingency.

In attendance at the meeting were representatives from the Health Ministry, the Agriculture Ministry, the WHO, the FAO, UNICEF, the ILO, USAID, AUSAID and Germany’s Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ).

MAKASSAR municipality organized a bird flu pandemic simulation in Tamangapa sub district, Manggala district, Makassar, South Sulawesi in an effort to disseminate know-how and to train related institutions on how to cope with a bird flu pandemic.

The two-hour simulation held recently involved at least 300 people from various institutions, including the Health Agency, the Food Self-Reliance and Marine Agency, the Education Agency, the Communication Agency, the National Police, the Indonesian Army and the public service center.

The simulation started with a report about poultry deaths that allegedly triggered the death of two residents. The rapid tests conducted by the local authority at the incident site showed that the affected poultry and the two residents were positively infected by the bird flu virus. In the simulation, the region then was declared a pandemic-affected area and had to be closed or isolated.

Only the authorities, who wore protective suits, made up of protected clothing, masks, glasses, over-shoes and special gloves, were permitted to enter the affected area to evacuate the victims, to deal with the infected poultry and to sterilize the location, using disinfectant. The ambulances also had to be sterilized before leaving the bird flu area.

A sterile area was prepared to handle the affected victims and to accommodate people who had just been evacuated from the pandemic location. The authority prepared an emergency post, shelters and a communal kitchen in the sterile location zone for evacuees.

Makassar mayor Andi Herry Iskandar explained that the bird flu virus had been spreading and had infected human beings, causing concern that the pandemic could potentially lead to massive deaths.

"The most frightening thing is that if there is a bird flu pandemic then it could cause massive deaths. Therefore, people and related institutions have to be trained to handle bird flu from the very beginning, just in case there is pandemic in their location," said Andi.

As of now, the city recorded that one resident has died of bird flu. The victim, Akirah, 14, resident of Jl. Maccini, Makassar, died in June 2006. The laboratory test of his blood and mucus specimens resulted in positive confirmation that he was infected by the H5N1 virus. The lab result was only disclosed three months after his death.

Three years ago, a resident of Sinjai regency in South Sulawesi, Khairil Anwar, 22, was identified as positively infected by the virus. Khairil, the first man in Indonesia declared to be infected by the bird flu virus, is still healthy up to now.

The head of the Makassar Health Agency, Naisyah Tun Azikin, said that Tamangapa was selected to be a drill location as it was located at the border area of Makassar and Gowa, which was prone to contagious diseases like bird flu, because it was a transit and distribution area for many products related to the poultry industry.

INDONESIA is considering permitting imports of beef products from Brazil to help reduce dependence on a few exporting countries, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono told as quoted by Reuters.

In 2007, Indonesia consumed a total of 396,500 tonnes of beef and beef products, 30 percent of the total was imported from Australia, New Zealand and Canada. "Beef imports from Brazil can be opened up but with strict requirements," Apriyantono said.

Brazil is the world's largest exporter of beef with estimated foreign sales of $4.2 billion in 2007. Among the import requirements, beef products must come from states which are free of footh-and-mouth disease such as Santa Catarina state, he said.

As the world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia also requires imported beef products pass Islamic halal standards for food consumption. Under the halal certification rules, suppliers must print halal labels in both English and Indonesian.

On top of these requirements, Indonesia is also seeking counter trade with Brazil, the minister said. Under such arrangement, if Indonesia issued beef import permits to Brazil then it must import Indonesian commodities, Apriyantono said. "We do not know yet which commodities Brazil wants to buy but we will offer crude palm oil," he said.

Indonesia, the world's largest palm oil producer, is likely to increase output by 2 million tonnes to 19.33 million this year, Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World has forecast.

It also estimates Indonesian palm oil exports will rise to 14.55 million tonnes in 2008, from 12.65 million tonnes in 2007.

On the other hand, responding to government plan to allow meat imports from Brazil, the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) warned Indonesian consumers of serious health risks these imports may pose.

YLKI board member Indah Suksmaningsih said meat products from Brazil were not completely free of foot and mouth disease. "There is only one state in Brazil that is free from foot and mouth disease," Indah said.

While infections of foot and mouth disease are rare in humans, Indah argued that risks would be higher for Indonesian consumers because they often consume cow bones and entrails. "It is easier to catch the disease from cow bones and entrails," she said, adding that cow bones and entrails were favored not because of taste and texture but for price.

To minimize risks, Indah said, the government must at least ban imports of cow bones and entrails, and establish a special task force to scrutinize imports for potential foot and mouth
contamination.

INDONESIAN government will soon add 200,000 tons of chemical fertilizers to its stock so as to fulfill the demand of the newly launched food resilience program, said Minister of Agriculture. "Our stock for the period of January to October 2008 was 4.3 million tons. We will increase it by 200,000 tons soon to achieve 4.5 million tons in total, " Anton Apriyantono said. "Besides of increasing the chemical fertilizer stock, we will stabilize the market prices of fertilizers. What we have observed is that there are so many speculators cheat the farmers and take benefits from speculating on subsidized fertilizers," he said.

The legislative council urged Indonesian government to take emergent measures against the current situation on the market, which is quite significant seeing that the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has just declared that Indonesia has successfully achieved rice self-sufficient in 2008 and launched the Food Resilience Program by giving big privileges, including the subsidized fertilizers, to Indonesian farmers.

CHAROEN Pokphand Indonesia, the nation's largest animal feed and processed chicken manufacturer, has decided to trim investment this year as Indonesia likely to be hit hard by the impact of the global economic slowdown.

The company has also forecast sales may decline by as much as 10 percent on lower demand and volatility in the local currency.

Newly appointed Charoen president director Thomas Effendy said the company had to shelve a plan to set up a new poultry feed plant which would have had a capacity of 30,000 tons.

The company will also slash allocations for capital expenditure this year to around Rp 100 billion (US$8.7 million) from the Rp 274 billion allocated for last year, according to Thomas. "The crisis has forced us to cancel our Rp 127 billion plant in Lampung this year. We are putting our expansion on hold because of possible low demand and fluctuations in the local currency," Thomas said.

He said the lower capital expenditure was driven by difficulty in obtaining loans from banks because of the tight liquidity in the banking sector.

Charoen, a local unit of Thai conglomeration Charoen Pokphand Foods, has estimated sales of Rp 12 trillion (US$1.04 billion) and net profit of Rp 450 billion this year.

During the first nine months of last year, the company generated Rp 9.98 trillion in sales, up by 61 percent from the Rp 6.2 trillion recorded during the same period in 2007.

The company managed to record a 129 percent jump in net profit from Rp 175 billion to Rp 401 billion. "It's difficult, however, to see growth in sales in 2009, but if our sales decline it will not be by more than 10 percent," Charoen president commissioner Hadi Gunawan said.

Charoen produces 4 millions tons of poultry feed and 24,000 tons of processed chicken annually for the domestic market. Because of the uncertainty in the financial sector, the company said it would look out for cheaper local products for its feedstock.

Currently, the company needs more than 1 million tons of corn and 400,000 tons of soybean every year to make its poultry feed products, which contribute 78 percent to the company's total sales.

More than 90 percent of the corn used by Charoen is grown locally, but the company still imports all its soybean meal from Brazil and Argentina. "We hope we can have our entire corn supply coming from local farmers," Charoen operational director Jemmy Wijaya said. Charoen is 55.45 percent owned by PT Central Agromina. The remaining 44.55 percent is held by the public.

Source: Poultry Indonesia