German authorities have confirmed outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N6 bird flu type at a farm on an island off the German North Sea coast, the Schleswig-Holstein state agriculture ministry said on Wednesday.

The virus was found on a farm of with 57 chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese on the island of Hallig Suederoog. All the birds on the farm have been culled. It is said to be the first case on a farm in Germany, the ministry said.

A case of H5N6 bird flu was also reported by a farm in the Netherlands in February and in southern England in January.

The Schleswig-Holstein state agriculture ministry said there is no record of the strain of the disease spreading to humans.

Some past outbreaks of bird flu have required expensive slaughtering campaigns and costly orders to farmers to keep poultry indoors.

Presidential Committee: Herdsmen/farmers Crises, Main Threat To National Food Security – Okowa

The priority policy direction for the just inaugurated Presidential Committee on National Food Security would be to tackle and find lasting solutions to the whelming incidence of herdsmen/farmers crises across the country, Delta State Governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa has said.

Governor Okowa, who is also a member of the presidential interventionist committee, described the incessant bloody clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the country as the main threat to sustainable food production.

Speaking in Asaba on Wednesday, at his first quarterly media interaction in 2018, the governor decried the threat posed by ruinous activities of herdsmen to food production across the country.

According to Okowa, “if we are going to encourage agriculture in this country, we must address the loss of farm produce from these security challenges posed by the herdsmen/farmers clashes all over the country”.

He disclosed his administration took proactive steps to set up interventionist committees at various local government areas in Delta state to check and forestall possible clashes, while expressing hope that the Presidential Committee will liaise with such local interventionist committees to proffer solutions to the Federal Government on workable policy trust for Nigeria.

READ MORE: Expert Blames Researchers For Dearth Of Wheat In Southeast

The governor also stated that the issue of herdsmen taking over Uwheru community in Ughelli North local government area was being addressed by security agencies, asserting that his administration will always engage diplomacy and pragmatic measures to avoid loss of life.

He observed that the state was peaceful, adding that he holds regular Security Council meetings to nip security challenges in the bud.