The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Poultry farmers who have been affected by the suspected contamination of poultry feeds, killing thousands of chickens, will be reimbursed, according to a notification released by Karma Feeds yesterday.
The notification reads, “Compensation to affected farmers due to suspected contamination of poultry feeds will be provided by Karma Feeds in consultation with the Department of Livestock (DoL) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests (MoAF).”
Director of Karma Feeds, Chencho Wangyal, said that the monetary compensation will be done in respective dzongkhags, in collaboration with DoL over a period of 15 days.
The modalities of the disbursement of compensation and the start date are currently being worked out.
“We understand the aggravation that our farmers are experiencing at this time, therefore, as a courtesy, we have agreed on monetary compensation, in consultation with the DoL and the MoAF,” he said.
He said that this is the most damaging catastrophe that Karma Feeds has ever experienced, in more than three decades.
The company is bearing 100 percent of the assessed compensation. The first case of suspected contamination of poultry feed was verbally reported to Karma Feeds by the Tsirang Poultry Cooperative Group on 4 December 2021, followed by reports of birds being sick in Haa and Paro, and other dzongkhags.
By 15 December, the joint team ruled out usual diseases afflicting chickens, and concluded the poultry deaths may be from possible contamination of a limited batch of poultry feeds, based on circumstantial evidence but could not confirm the presence or type of contaminant which has been sent out for testing.
