The European Union (EU) is to pay half of the compensation given to Hungarian farmers for losses incurred by bird flu, local media said yesterday.

The total compensation would amount to 5-6 billion forints (about 23-28 million U.S. dollars), said Andras Dekany, spokesman for the Hungarian Agriculture Ministry.

Under the plan, farmers can seek compensation for revenue losses due to lower market demand, extra expenditure on vaccinations and increased labor costs in prevention efforts, he said.

The figure is a big increase from the 3.5 billion forints (about 16 million dollars) approved by the Hungarian cabinet in February, he added.