HYDERABAD. The Central Government is contemplating allocating surplus foodgrains not fit for human consumption to the poultry industry that has been hit hard by the bird flu crisis in the last few months.

Though a final decision is yet to be taken, the Government is seriously considering the matter, according to Arvind Kaushal, Joint Secretary (Animal Husbandry) in the Union Ministry of Agriculture.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the seventh national seminar of the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) here on Sunday, he said that there were requests from several quarters requesting the Government to channelise the surplus foodgrains to the industry. "We seek inputs from the industry to evolve a mechanism," he said.

The SEA, an association of vegetable oil industry, conducted the seminar with a focus on popularising oil meal usage in compound feeds for cattle, poultry and aqua sectors. Mr. Kaushal said vaccination of birds was just part of the overall strategy in protecting the industry from bird flu.

"There is no need for vaccination as the outbreak doesn't cover even 1 per cent of the total 489 million bird population. We can go for it when it is warranted that too in affected areas. As of now, it is not advisable," he said.

Defending the Government decision to admit the incidence of the disease, he said there was no pressure or provocation.

Demand rejected

On the demand for declaring aviation influenza-free zones, he said such creation would involve both positive and negative features. It did give people in unaffected areas the influenza-free tag but it would also mean a lot of difficulty in movement of products from one zone to another.

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