An outbreak of bird flu could cost Mozambique up to 50 million U.S. dollars in payment for the slaughter and replacement of infected poultry, and compensation to farmers, news reports reaching here from Maputo said on Thursday.

Speaking on the economic impact of a possible outbreak of the disease, Anabela dos Muchangos, a technical officer in the Mozambique Agriculture Ministry, said such an eventuality would affect a large part of the Mozambican population.

"Should there be an outbreak of bird flu, poultry activities, practiced by a large number of Mozambicans, will be affected", she said. "Such an outbreak may cost the country up to 50 million dollars".

The government said owners of infected birds, products and by- products or animal feed, will have the right to compensation by the state when the birds are slaughtered or the products destroyed for health reasons.

On the other hand, the proposal recognizes the need to specify the amount to be availed by the producers' associations to start the compensation, money that will be replaced by the government.

The idea is to encourage the producers to quickly report any cases or suspected cases of the disease, and prevent its spread. Poultry producers both in the domestic and industrial sectors will be compensated for direct losses, and the owners of slaughterhouses and of the animal feed industries for indirect losses.

As compensation strategy, it has been proposed that the Agriculture Ministry open an emergency bank account to facilitate disbursement mechanisms.

Mozambique has about 27 million domestic birds and of these, about 90 percent are found in villages.

There are also about 1,000 small scale production units in the country, raising about 600 birds each, and 12 large scale units, with 200,000 birds or more.

Source: Xinhua