stephanie lee The Star 13 Aug 18;
KOTA KINABALU: All poultry exports from Sabah have automatically been stopped, following detection of bird flu in chickens in Tuaran on Aug 3.
Sabah Agriculture and Food Industries minister Junz Wong said this was to prevent the spread of the virus outside of the contaminated area.
However, he did not specify how many stocks or which countries are affected by the export halt.
“For Brunei, they themselves requested to stop the import of our poultry following this incident,” Wong said during a press conference on Monday (Aug 13).
Meanwhile, villagers whose poultry have been culled following the detection of bird flu in Tuaran will be compensated.
Wong said villagers reared chicken mostly for their own consumption, and the culling has caused them losses.
"So, we will be compensating the affected villagers accordingly," he said.
Meanwhile, he said poultry farmers would not be compensated as such because they knew the risks when venturing into the industry.
Almost 30,000 chicken and poultry have been destroyed after the detection of the virus.
Wong also said that the bird flu virus is believed to have originated from imported chickens, which were used in illegal cock-fighting activities.
On other matters, Sabah will have a standard operating procedure (SOP) to streamline the processing of bird's nests for export to China.
“We want things done directly from Sabah and not have to go through Peninsular Malaysia,” he said, adding this move is expected to benefit locals.
Wong said those interested to venture into the bird's nests business can go to his ministry to get their application forms.
The full SOP will be revealed in a month’s time.
Bird flu outbreak: Sabah points to poultry smuggling as possible contributing factor
Olivia Miwil New Straits Times 14 Aug 18;
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has always been vigilant in screening the entry of food products into the state, said its Agriculture and Food Industries Minister Junz Wong.
This comes following detection of bird flu in chickens in Tuaran on Aug 3.
“We have been stringent in allowing poultry products and fruits into the state to prevent the spread of diseases.
“However, it cannot be denied that there are people who smuggled items in. During operations, we even seized roosters meant for cockfighting events," he said, after the launch a seminar on tropical fruits, themed “The Next Golden Crop for Sabah” here today.
The seminar was organised by Sabah Agriculture Department and Society of Agriculture Scientists.
Meanwhile, Wong added that he did not discount the possibility that smuggled poultry could be one of the contributing factors that led to the outbreak of the bird flu virus in Tuaran recently.
“We are still investigating (the source of the infection and the result of the samples taken from the infected chickens are) not out yet,” he said.
As for poultry exports, Wong said Brunei has so far halted all imports of poultry and fertilisers from the state.
Despite that, he assured that the situation was still under control and there has been no report of human transmission.
On the event, Wong said the state government was optimistic in turning tropical fruits into the main exports based on its experience of turning cocoa and oil palm as Sabah's golden crops.
In 2016, he said the global market value of fruits were worth US$10 billion, in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) it was US$1.8 billion, with Malaysia only contributing US$74.6 million.
“We have to give our full commitment in working on allocating lands, workforce, time and entrepreneurship to make this happen.
“I was told about 3.6 acres out of 5.2 acres of the agricultural land in Sabah has been identified for tropical fruits.
“Supply of fruits are adequate to meet domestic demand but we are looking into potential export of starfruit, pineapple, rambutan, durian, pamelo, papaya, mangosteen, jackfruit among other.” Wong added.
Also present was Sabah Agriculture Department director Idrus Shafie.
