And in tonight's last word on the Avian Flu, Poultry Association Manager Armando Cowo detailed the material losses that this virus has cost the industry thus far.
He also spoke on the immediate hit that's been taken by Caribbean Chicken after some of the company's sourcing grounds were revealed to be experiencing the effects of the Avian Flu.
Armando Cowo, Manager, Belize Poultry Association
"With regard to the economic losses being incurred as we speak, some of it is visible and some of it is invisible because there are direct losses to the farmer. For example, those, um, 28,000 birds that were slaughtered right. If you were to calculate the value of those birds only the direct cost when you are looking at the value of the bird in direct cost, alright we are already jumping quarter million dollars or more and if you look at the total indirect cost associated with it we are looking at already above $500,000 in losses and that is just two barns we are not looking at the whole subsection in Blue Creek as yet, um, with regards to. The layers again that is another $200,000.00 down the drain as we speak. We have to look at the effect it also has on the brand of the company that is sustaining the losses because the other day one of the reporters asked the question if I go to the freezer which brand will I choose and as funny as it might have seemed then it is a serious question because people will be diving into that freezer for the competition for the quality poultry products but we are trying to reassure them that the product from coming out of the Caribbean Chicken plant is wholesome, is safe, because those birds that are marketed by the company are being tested and it's under BAHA's control. They are the ones who are testing, testing, testing, and as soon as it's safe to go into the market they are giving us the green light and we take them to the slaughtering facility and they are processed, packaged and sold around the country. So, I can assure you that we, as an industry are also taking every possible precaution and measure to ensure that the public has a safe food to consume."
Additional costs surrounding this outbreak of avian flu was initially projected by the Ministry of Agriculture to be between $600,000 and $700,000. That's what they projected in an initial budget for the cabinet. They've since revised that budget for the worst-case scenario in which they project that containment and eradication could cost G.O.B. a little over 1 million dollars.
