The recent outbreak of bird flu in Kerala’s Kuttanad region that led to the culling of over three lakh ducks, may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for the duck-rearing sector.

The government has decided to declare duck rearing as an agricultural activity, bringing it under the category of “agriculture” and an action plan will soon be in place to boost duck farming and consumption of duck products.

“This is a major decision that will have long-term impact on the growth of duck rearing which has been a key source of livelihood in many districts in Kerala,” V Brahmanandan, Director-in-charge of the Department of Animal Husbandry, told BusinessLine . “For instance, duck farmers will be eligible for bank loans at a highly subsidised rate of 4 per cent.” They would also get insurance cover, subsidised power and a lot of economic benefits currently given to small and marginal farmers.

Brahmanandan said the government had decided to give a boost to the duck-rearing sector by modernising the sector. Some of the measures envisaged are: getting duck farmers registered, issuing licences to them, modernisation of hatcheries and setting up of modern marketing practices. Only those registered with the department would be allowed to sell duck meat and eggs.

He noted that the sector was highly unorganised and traditional. “The current system will change drastically for the better of the sector and the farmers,” he said. The government was planning to set up a duck research centre and two new hatcheries in Kuttanad.

A hatchery-cum-breeding centre with a capacity of one million chicks would be set up. The bird disease centre at Thiruvalla would be upgraded to tackle future outbreak of bird flu or any other diseases. A nodal officer would be appointed to coordinate the efforts.

Brahamanandan said the bird flu outbreak was fully contained now and the State was declared free of it. However, the poultry industry was yet to recover from the impact. The government was now planning, ahead of the busy Christmas-New Year season, to hold food festivals in six cities to regain people’s confidence in consuming duck meat and eggs. At these festivals, meat and eggs of ducks and chickens would be consumed in public in the presence of MLAs, politicians, experts and bureaucrats. This was to convince people that eating duck products was 100 per cent safe now. There was now a glut of one million ducks in the market.

This was part of an action plan to boost the duck rearing sector that was badly hit by the flu. He noted that some 2.75 lakh ducks had been culled by a government campaign to prevent spread of the flu (apart from those killed en masse by farmers themselves.) The farmers had been paid compensation.

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