Malaysia May Declare Itself Free Of Bird Flu Next Month
Bernama, 26 Apr 2006

PUTRAJAYA, April 26 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will be declared free of the H5N1 bird flu virus end of next month if there is no new case of the disease between now and then, said Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin Wednesday.

He said the surveillance would end in the third week of May.

Up until Wednesday, there had been no new case of the H5N1 virus detected in poultry and other birds in the country and this meant the country was free of the disease, he said.

"However, because of the past cases, we still need to continue surveillance.

If by the end of May there is no new case, we will be able to declare the country free of the disease," he told reporters at his office.

Referring to orchard owners in Perlis throwing away their harvest of the Sala quinine fruit because of a glut allegedly caused by imports of Thai mangoes, Muhyiddin said it should not happen as the Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (Fama) was prepared to buy the fruit from the growers at market prices.

"This will not be a problem for Fama as there is demand for this fruit. The question of competition from Thai quinine does not arise," he said.

Muhyiddin also said the Cabinet last week agreed for a study to be made on incentives for padi farmers to make the industry more competitive.

He said the study called for an "exit scheme" to be implemented to encourage smallholders to sell their farms so that they could be merged into larger and more economical ones.

"If they agree to sell, an incentive of RM10,000 per acre will be paid while an incentive of RM5,000 may be paid for an annual lease," he said.-- BERNAMA