The Centre for Climate Change and Freshwater Re-sources have warned of a poultry epidemic in the harmattan season.
Disclosing this to newsmen in Minna, Niger State, Director of the Centre, Professor Daniel Oladele Adefolalu, at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, said the Environmental Heat Stress (EHS) values have shown that "poultry epidemic is imminent in 2004/2005 harmattan season."
He said the disaster will be more pronounced in the South-west part of the country, adding that some other parts of the country may be affected by the epidemic due to climate change, citing the Benue Valley in particular.
Adefolalu recalled the devastation wreaked during the 2000/2001 harmattan season, which cost Ekiti and Ondo states over seven per cent of the state GDP, adding that more havoc may affect the poultry industry.
This development may also affect the ban on importation of chicken by the Federal Government, as local poultry farmers may not meet local demand in the face of the imminent epidemic.
According to the university don, the Centre came to the conclusion of the imminent disaster following findings from primary data from 36 climate monitoring stations in Ekiti and Osun states, which showed that the EHS during this year harmattan will wreak havoc to the poultry industry.
