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Highly pathogenic AI avian influenza is spreading mainly in Chungcheong and Honam this winter as in last year. Starting with a quail farm in Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province last month, it has been confirmed in 18 farms so far. It is believed that the virus that was buried in wild birds such as migratory birds was introduced to the farm. So, in some areas, rice fields have been turned into feeding grounds for migratory birds, which has the effect of reducing the migration of migratory birds.



Reporter Lee Yong-shik covered the story.



<Reporter> This



is a rice paddy near Ganwol Lake in Seosan, Chungcheongnam-do, where migratory birds come from.



Belatedly, the rice harvest was in full swing, but it was left as food for migratory birds.



Instead of putting the threshed rice seeds in a sack, sprinkle them directly on the paddy field.



The area of ​​fallow land used as a feeding ground for migratory birds is about 10 hectares, and about 90 tons of produced rice are all provided as food for migratory birds.



The local government subsidizes rice farming costs of 5 million won per 10,000 square meters per hectare and made it a feeding ground for migratory birds in non-farming paddy fields.



They left the rice straw in the paddy fields and watered the farmland to provide a place to sleep.



[Gong Byeong-jin/Director: As the number of winter migratory birds gradually decreased, we conducted a pilot food supply project for migratory birds using fallow land.]



Winter migratory birds flew into the rice paddy fields that became feeding grounds.



Endangered species and natural monuments, such as spoonbill and cygnus, as well as storks and black cranes, rest or sleep in the watered rice fields.



The 44,000 winter migratory birds that flew here are mainly staying near the feeding grounds, but they are also effective in preventing AI from moving to the poultry farm.



Highly pathogenic AI continues to be detected in migratory bird feces, etc.



[Kim Young-joon / Director of Animal Welfare Office, National Institute of Ecology: In winter, if enough food is supplied to the



birds,

it is judged that it will help the end of AI.]

Feeding business that reduces migration of migratory birds prevents the spread of virus, so poultry farms are worried It remains to be seen whether it will reduce the



(Video coverage: Ho-Jun Choi, screen provided: Shin-Hwan Kim)