Cull compensation key to beating bird flu in Asia

Agreement on a price level will require unprecedented international cooperation among Asia's countries, especially Japan and China.

And unless the compensation is fair, United Nations health and agriculture experts believe it is unlikely farmers will actually slaughter their birds.

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"Compensation will be one of the key factors that will determine whether or not we stamp out these outbreaks," said United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) regional animal health officer Hans Wagner in Bangkok.

"If the level of compensation is insufficient then the farmers will not carry out the culls. They may even resort to clandestinely selling the infected animals."

It may be no coincidence that richer nations such as Taiwan and South Korea, which appear to be making headway in containing their outbreaks, are also the countries that have paid their farmers the most generous compensation.

A Taiwanese agricultural official said Taipei will make "reasonable" compensation for the 910,000 chickens and 10,000 ducks culled. One farmer in Chiayi, he used as an example, received 88 Taiwan dollars (2.60 US dollars) for each slaughtered chicken.

Similarly, South Korea has offered to pay 100 percent of the market price for almost two million birds slaughtered.

It will also offer tax breaks and other financial deals to affected farms and has said it will buy more than 10 million birds to prop up sagging market prices.