 Many poor people rely on chicken production |
The spread of bird flu has been a disaster for Asia's livestock industries, the United Nations food agency has warned. The deadly disease may even threaten the region's attempts to end poverty, said Jacques Diouf, head of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Bird flu has killed 22 people in Vietnam and Thailand.
Big chicken-processing conglomerates in the region have seen business suffer, while many small farmers face ruin.
"We're particularly concerned because chicken production is made also by poor people and therefore in the fight against hunger it's a very important element," Mr Diouf told a meeting on poverty and food in Bangkok.
Chinese ban
The H5N1 bird flu has hit Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
It has also surfaced in Taiwan and Pakistan, as well as parts of the United States and Canada.
 |  We recognise that if animals have to be killed, if exports have to be slowed down, and if poor people can not rely on those productions to improve their conditions of life, the disease naturally is a negative factor  |
China has banned imports of poultry from Canada, in response to the discovery of bird flu on a Canadian farm. Similar action has already been taken by Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan - although the Canadian authorities say the strain found is not the deadly one.
Some 80 million chickens have been culled in Asia to curb the spread of the disease.
While eradication of the virus was the FAO's "top priority," Mr Diouf said the agency was concerned about the economic impact of the virus in the region, especially on rural communities.
"Stopping this avian influenza is a very important element in our strategy for fighting hunger and poverty," he said.
"We recognise that if animals have to be killed, if exports have to be slowed down, and if poor people can not rely on those productions to improve their conditions of life, the disease naturally is a negative factor."
Some good news
The World Bank has estimated that the culling of all Vietnam's poultry could cost 1.8% of gross domestic product, or $690m.
Representatives from more than 20 countries are to gather in Bangkok from Thursday to discuss the economic impact of the bird flu crisis and how to rebuild shattered poultry industries.
But there are indications that the crisis could be slowing.
China's authorities have lifted a quarantine on a farm in Shanghai while Thailand says Japan might lift a ban on Thai cooked chicken imports by early March.
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