Cairo Urban Farms May Disappear Due to Bird Flu

Avian flu could doom Cairo rooftop farmyards

CAIRO, Feb 18, 2006 (AFP) - A feature of Cairene folklore but also a means of subsistence for many Egyptians, rooftop farmyards have been singled out as a major health hazard since the first outbreak of avian influenza was confirmed.

Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif on Saturday urged all Egyptians to put an end to rooftop farming. Four out of six birds found to have been infected by the deadly H5N1 strain in Cairo came from such installations.

While no human cases have yet been reported, Health Minister Hatem Gebali gave several interviews on television Friday night, urging families to keep children away from the rooftops.

Above the commotion of Cairo's teeming streets lies an equally crowded rooftop city where the destitute fight for living space with millions of chickens, ducks and pigeons.

In Cairo's teeming neighbourhood of Bulaq Dakrur, Ismail Mahmud Mohammed's roof houses some 50 cackling ducks and hens, two satellite dishes, several families' laundry lines and a playground for the building's children.

"When there's no money to rent a bigger place, there's always space on the roof," said the 45-year-old.

"They said on television that it's dangerous to mix with the birds but they are my only source of income. Thanks to God, my birds are okay so we will eat those and then we will stop but what other job will I find?"

While the government has not yet issued an official ban on backyard and rooftop poultry rearing, the current avian flu crisis could have a drastic impact on the Cairo skyline.

"In most Egyptians farms, the level of hygiene is good. The problem is with urban yards where poultry and humans share the same living space," said Talaat Khatib, a professor at Assiut University's faculty of veterinary medicine.

"The situation is bad in these places and the threat of disease is higher. We need a huge campaign of awareness," he told AFP.

"To tackle this sanitary issue we have to change a certain lifestyle, all these rooftop cages should be removed," Khatib said.

In the streets of Bulaq Dakrur, animals and people mingle in one chaotic cluster of dirt alleys where barefoot children play and sheep graze on rubbish amidst a huge traffic jam of donkey carts, mini-buses, grocery stalls and chicken hutches.

Unfazed by the latest reports, an old woman wrapped in a white veil squeezes the neck of one of her pigeons and drop feeds water directly from her mouth to the bird's open beak in order to keep him hydrated.

Since the bird flu scare, impoverished Egyptians have been eating even more chicken than usual, as the prices of fish and other meats have doubled.

But many residents are aware that the measures promised by the authorities could spell the end of the era of unregulated urban farming.

Rooftop farms are particularly exposed "because of the sand carried in the air and because the water can be contaminated by migratory birds such as ducks," the health minister explained on the MBC channel Friday night.

"Some things never change in Cairo but I think now a lot of people are scared or understand that breeding animals on roofs and balconies is insalubrious," said Gamal Abdel Sattah, a young pharmacist from Bulaq Dakrur.

On his father's roof, a few dozen ducks and roosters squawk and flutter around the satellite dish amid children's plastic toys and cabbage leaves strewn on a thick bed of droppings.

"I will convince my father to destroy all this. We only use the birds for our personal consumption. This is probably the end of a tradition," said Gamal.>