DHAKA, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's poultry industry has counted a loss of more than 41 billion taka (about 586 million U.S. dollars) in the last one year due to the outbreak of avian influenza or bird flu, leading newspaper The Daily Star reported Sunday.

    Bangladesh Poultry Industries Coordination Committee submitted a study to the government last week, the newspaper said, adding that the study covered the period between February 2007 and January 2008.

    "This loss has hit the rural economy which had earlier faced the devastation of cyclone Sidr and twin floods," Dr Jahangir Alam, director general of Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI),told a roundtable on Bird Flu & Solution here on Saturday.

    Alam asked for government help to ensure bank loans at 2-3 percent interest for the agriculture and poultry farmers to save the sector.

    The roundtable was organized jointly by Watchdog Bangladesh and Breeders Association of Bangladesh.

    Bird flu, which broke out in March last year, became devastating early this year forcing thousands of farms closed and tens of thousands jobless. So far, 44 out of the country's 64 districts have been affected by the disease.