The governments in bird flu-hit areas have begun giving compensation packages to farmers whose poultry were slaughtered during emergency efforts nationwide to check the spread of bird flu.

A compensation team from the local government reached Zhanglingshang Village of Wuxue City, central Hubei Province, where bird flu cases had been reported, on Friday to pay the farmers.

According to the city's animal epidemic control headquarters, there were a total of 3,600 farmers in three towns involved in the compensation, and the municipal authorities have raised over 1 million yuan (US$122,000) in fund to compensate.

Ma'anshan City, in east China's Anhui Province, has been compensating farmers for their 1,716 head of poultry that have been slaughtered. The compensation was made in three villages, including 1,102 farmers, around a local chicken farm where suspected bird flu cases were found.

Starting on February 2, the government of Nanhui District of Shanghai will spend 6 million yuan (US$723,000) to compensate farmers. Some 300,000 head of poultry in Kangqiao area of Nanhui were slain.

In Long'an County in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the government destroyed 14,000 head of poultry in the areas around a duck farm where bird flu cases were reported, and quarantined all poultry five kilometers around the duck farm.

Most farmers in Long'an have gotten compensation from the government. The compensation was not available so far for only a small portion of poultry that were killed in the open country because they were unable to identify their owners to date.

The government of Wugang City, in central China's province of Hunan, has completed the compensation work.

(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2004)