When we last reported on Avian Influenza on Friday, it had been confirmed at two farms in the Blue Creek area with 28,000 birds possibly affected.
Tonight, that viral footprint has expanded with a total of 8 farms affected between Blue Creek and Shipyard in Orange Walk. And the number of birds within the radius of possible infection is well over the already depopulated 29,500 birds.
Today the experts told the press that birds at the remaining 5 farms, which may have had the Avian flu but that have now recovered - will likely still be good enough to eat.
But what does that mean for the industry and for the chicken sold at your corner grocery? Will the supply of Belize's cheapest form of protein be affected, and will the price go up? Armando Cowo of the Poultry Association says this crisis is likely to affect prices:
Armando Cowo, Mgr., Belize Poultry Association
"The production will be affected, and we have to face that reality. How much at the moment? we are trying to gage that, it is not an exact thing but we are trying to gage exactly how it will be affected but we do know that the community of Spanish Lookout does have the capacity to cover as much as possible of that shortfall that we'll be facing the Blue Creek Caribbean Chicken Company. So, right off the bat I can tell you there will be a shortage in November. As for the prices, I don't know because the driver of the prices is not the disease, there are many other factors that drive the prices. Right now, farmers are harvesting their grains, or most of them will start harvesting their grains. The price of those grains is the driver for the price of chicken, let's face it we can't run away from that. So, if there will be a price increase, it will not be associated with the Avian Flu. That loss will be absorbed by the industry as was done in 2015. That is not a driver of price, so you'd have to look at other factors that drive the price."
