Improved farming key to fight bird flu: WHO
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-12-25 19:14

The World Health Organization's regional director says China must change its farming practices as a long-term solution to preventing outbreaks of deadly bird flu.

A Chinese farming family plucks chicken feathers at their village house in rural Yongding County, Fujian Province. The World Health Organization's regional director says China must change its farming practices as a long-term solution to preventing outbreaks of deadly bird flu. [AFP]

Shigeru Omi, director for the western pacific region, told the Xinhua news agency that the common practice in China of raising mixed animals and living in close proximity to animals must change, Xinhua said.

"We cannot kill all the chickens and ducks to prevent bird flu from spreading among them and to humans, therefore we have to make sure the chickens, ducks and humans do not mingle together," Omi was quoted saying.

Segregation is one of the most important ways to prevent the spread of the virus, Omi told Xinhua in an interview.

"But we cannot do it overnight as China has a huge poultry population," he added.

"That's why we have to step up improvement of the primitive farming practice in China's rural regions, especially the backyard feeding of chickens and ducks in many rural households," he said.

China produces 14.2 billion poultry annually, and most are raised in farmers' yards or even inside their houses.