5 April 2006, Singburi Province - A smallholder farmer replenishing the water troughs for her ducks. She lost her 1 500 ducks in a culling when an outbreak of the Avian Influenza virus struck a nearby town. Now she practices closed-system duck farming rather than free-range after an FAO study proposed that ducks roaming freely in the rice paddies could be contributing to the spread, unwittingly, of the Avian Influenza virus. The Thai authorities have helped farmers change over to this new method.
FAO Project - OSRO/INT/501/NET: Netherlands support to and collaboration with FAO to control highly pathogenic avian influenza in Asia. Objectives: To protect humans and the poultry sector, in particular smallholder producers, against HPAI, in Asia and beyond, through the effective control and prevention of the disease and the restoration towards a sustainable, viable poultry production sector. To protect humans and the poultry sector, in particular smallholder producers, against HPAI, in Asia and beyond, through the effective control and prevention of the disease and the restoration towards a sustainable, viable poultry production sector. To support FAO in its role of coordination, strategic planning support, project and programme development and general technical assistance to the control and prevention of HPAI in Asia.