Veterinary officers in the Eastern Province who have begun a massive poultry vaccination programme, are perplexed by the fact that local farmers are not responding to the exercise. The negative response prompted The New Times to investigate why poultry farmers are reluctant to vaccinate their fowls, mainly against the Newcastle Disease. Wilson Ntambara of Nyakariro Sector, 55, has 100 chickens on his farm. He complained that there wasn’t a sensitisation campaign before the exercise begun. "People didn’t know about it,” he said.  "It is the first time in my life I have heard of such immunisation. What should I do? Carry the 100 chickens where the vaccinations take place? We need to know how practical it can be,” he said. Paulette Uwitonze, 31, said that the exercise seemed to concern only those with big poultry farms. "I have only 12 hens…you don’t expect me to queue for the vaccination. They should instead give us the vaccinations and we administer them ourselves,” she advised.Rwamagana District Veterinary Officer, Jean de Dieu Ntiyitanga, noted that most chicken farmers in rural areas were not used to vaccination. He said most farmers lacked access to drugs or couldn’t afford vaccinations. He also added that there was an erroneous assumption that free range chickens were not susceptible to disease. "Ignorance notwithstanding, farmers need to vaccinate their poultry. We have vaccines for Newcastle Disease, infectious bronchitis and fowl pox. We don’t mind about numbers…even one hen should be vaccinated,” he urged.