They feared an imminent disruption of the industry if the menace cannot be handled carefully.

"A few poultry growers had recently started exporting poultry products to some Middle Eastern countries, North Eastern region of India, and Nepal, and the present outbreak will hit hard this effort," said WPSA-BB Secretary General MA Saleque.

Cashing on Bangladesh's reputation for remaining free from the bird flu virus, a few entrepreneurs started entering some new poultry markets, which even include Europe, he added.

Saleque, also a high official of Brac, said different microcredit providers injected about 20 percent credit to the industry while different government and private banks contributed another 20 percent. These organisations may face recovery crisis in the wake of the recent invasion of bird flu in the country.

WPSA-BB President Mashiur Rahman said the outbreak will suddenly stall the booming poultry sector involving directly around 10 million people. He hoped that both the government and private entrepreneurs will jointly face the situation boldly.

Mashiur expressed satisfaction over the government's readiness to face the challenges, adding that the whole poultry industry will also face up to the challenge.

SCENARIO AT SAVAR AND GAZIPUR
Poultry farmers in Savar and Gazipur, the two main centres of the country's poultry industry, feared a huge investment loss because of the panic created by the detection of bird flu. They also feared a collapse in the marketing chain of eggs and fowls.

The District Livestock Office in Gazipur said there are 7,135 farms for layer birds and 5,336 farms for broiler chicken in five upazilas in the district and the total number of broiler and layer birds is more than 2.71 crore.

In the Bhabanipur, Ganakpara and Jirani areas in Savar, the farmers were seen wearing a glum look.

The government authorities on Friday culled 3,000 fowls of Happy Poultry of Ganakpara, which the government has declared a bird flu affected area.

Proprietor of the farm Abdul Latif is worried about the future. He said his father started the poultry business in 1998 with a small investment and the business--now with two farms--gradually grew bigger and its total liability stood at more than Tk 40 lakh.

"I lost the whole business of one farm as all its fowls had to be dumped at the time of its full production," he said. The marketing activities are also paralysed since the government directed not to sell eggs or fowls until further orders, he added.

Latif said it will be difficult to come back to the full swing in the business again as it takes at least six months after investing to come into production.

Asked about the government's decision to compensate the affected, he said, "We are yet to receive any assurance from the government about compensation. The government officials came and destroyed our produces but said the matter of compensation will be discussed later."

All the farms in the area are facing huge investment losses.

Bhai Bhai poultry farm in the same area lost its investment as its 3,500 chicks and fowls had to be dumped.

Its proprietor Jasim Uddin submitted an estimated loss of Tk 24 lakh for compensation to the Gazipur District Livestock Officer yesterday.

The panic also resulted in dull business at places outside the infected areas.

Adbur Razzak, a farmer of Bhabanipur, said although his farm is out of the infected areas, the sales of eggs and fowls experienced a drastic fall in the last few days.

He took a loan of Tk 10 lakh from the Ashulia branch of Sonali Bank two years ago to expand his business. His Suma Poultry Farm now has 6,000 chicks and fowls.

"I am not worried about bird flu but I am anxious about how I will pay my next bank instalment," said Razzak, who has to pay the bank Tk 40,000 per month against his loans.

"The District Livestock Office instructed us to maintain cleanliness in the farms and report it if any death of chickens occurs," said Mozammel Haque, owner of a poultry farm containing 1,000 broiler chickens.

He said poultry farm owners are constantly communicating with the District Livestock Office and following its instructions.

"We are working together since an outbreak of bird flu in any farm will bring disaster to all of us," said another poultry farm owner in Gazipur municipal area.

Meanwhile, the District Livestock Office said three teams were formed to investigate and monitor the poultry farms in the unaffected areas. The teams surveyed 90,000 birds in 38 farms in the district as of yesterday, it said.

"If any abnormal or massive death of birds is found, we will collect the sample for test, but as of now we did not find any such case," Kafiluddin Bhuiyan, district livestock officer, Gazipur, said.

The officials of the livestock office said poultry birds from Jirani of Gazipur were destroyed earlier as it was inside the one kilometre radius of the affected area in Savar where avian influenza virus was detected on March 22.