KOTA BARU: Consumers must help to ensure that chicken breeders have the confidence to produce enough supply for the market through sustained de­mand, Agriculture Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said.

He said consumers should have no fear following, the Government’s assurances that chicken consumption was safe in the country. The minister said chicken breeders would likely reduce supply in the event that there was poor demand triggered by fear among consumers follow­ing the bird flu scare.

"If there is poor demand, the chicken breeding industry is bound to suffer huge losses if they maintain their normal supply," he told reporters after visiting the Kemubu Agricul­ture Development Authority (Kada) here. He was asked to comment on a news report that a chicken supply crisis was expected to occur next month following the move by a majority of chicken breeders to reduce the intake of chicks in their farms.

Muhyiddin described the move as a natural reaction, to prevent incurring heavy loss­es. He said his ministry was monitoring closely and taking appropriate measures to ensure that the bird flu outbreak did not spread to the country.

The minister also said that Kada needed to seek new input to generate the income of the 400,000 Kemubu farmers. He said small and medium industries introduced in Ke­mubu would be expanded fol­lowing their success. He called on other federal government departments and agencies and the Kelantan gov­ernment to help improve the Income of the Kemubu farmers.