The word of the eco this week is avian flu. We take stock of the epizootic and its economic repercussions.
franceinfo: Where are we with the epizootic?
Guillaume Gaven: Now, more than 1,200 outbreaks have been identified, mainly in the west of France. Difficult to get the figure for slaughter but it is around 13 million poultry, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. This is much more than in the winter of 2020: avian flu then affected 500 farms in the south-west and caused the slaughter of 3.5 million poultry, mainly ducks.
Which regions are most affected?
If this year, the epizootic arrived from the South-West, the region seems to be more or less preserved. It is in the Vendée that the situation is more worrying, especially since avian flu is moving north, especially in Loire-Atlantique. It now threatens Brittany. However, this region and the Pays de la Loire are the two that concentrate more than half of French poultry production. The sector weighs nearly 2 billion euros.
How will breeders be compensated?
The amount will depend on the species and the number of breeding days. A duck to force-feed will be reimbursed between 4 and 10 euros each, a standard chicken around 1.5 euros, a red label chicken twice as much. The breeders’ interprofession demands 100% compensation for the economic losses of the farm, until the effective return of the poultry.
Should we fear a rise in prices for consumers?
For the moment, the price of chicken has only increased by 2.5%, less than guinea fowl (+5%) or duck (+7%), according to the inflation observatory put on foot by magazine 60 million consumers.