Farmers unruffled by first infection on the mainland
Swift cull and vaccinations in Guangxi reassure duck producer's neighbours
The people of Dingdang are taking in their stride the mainland's first outbreak of H5N1 bird flu. So, too are their neighbours in southwestern Guangxi - like Zhu Zhenghua and his mother.
Mr Zhu fed his flock of ducks yesterday morning, just like any other day.
'I was a bit worried at first when I heard the news,' said Mr Zhu's mother on their farm 10km from Dingdang. 'But my birds are in good health and the government workers have vaccinated all of them. So I'm much more relaxed now.'
Mainland authorities on Tuesday confirmed a bird flu outbreak among ducks on a farm in Dingdang, 65km from Guangxi's capital, Nanning. Local government ordered a cull of 14,000 birds within a 3km radius of the affected farm and the vaccination of all poultry stocks in adjoining areas.
Most villagers are aware of the outbreak but say they are not worried.
Neighbours said the owner of the infected farm, Huang Shengde, and his family were in hospital under observation for symptoms of bird flu.
The local authority has declared Dingdang a 'quarantine zone'. Government workers were posted at the entrance of the village to prevent people going in.
They had dug a dyke across the road and created a makeshift disinfection pool by pouring in water laced with lime.
'All families inside will be evacuated to elsewhere later. This place has to be closed down for disinfection,' a guard said.
However, villager Yang Anbin said: 'I haven't heard any plan to evacuate us.'
Mr Huang's poultry farm, on which he used to keep several hundred ducks, is deserted. Dead ducks are piled up in a courtyard, covered with a thick layer of lime, waiting to be taken away.
Farmer Xin Li, Mr Huang's next-door neighbour, said local officials had visited them a few days ago. 'They told me there is an outbreak among the birds. They took away 15 chickens I kept and compensated me generously,' she said.
For her and her neighbours, the episode that brought brief disturbance to their quiet rural ways is already over. '[Mr Huang's] farm has been closed and all birds are culled. It is over, so why should they bother us?' said Mr Yang.
Most farmers in Dingdang grow sugar cane. Only one other raises poultry.
Lo Yongcheng runs a poultry farm 2km away. He says he has had enough. '[Planting sugar cane] provides a more reliable income and involves less risks,' he said.
People in Nanning were also unruffled by the outbreak. A wet market vendor said: 'I sell 70 to 80 chickens a day. All my supplies are from good farms. Besides, government officers have inspected the market regularly.'
