DHAKA (Reuters) - Bird flu has spread to two more districtsin Bangladesh, taking the number of affected districts to 36, alivestock official said on Monday, as the government pledged toraise compensation to farmers for culled poultry.

The latest cases were reported in southern Bagerhat andwestern Kushtia districts while the virus has re-emerged inseveral others, an official in the livestock department said.

More than half Bangladesh's 64 districts are affected bybird flu which has been able to spread, health experts say,partly due to ignorance among millions of farmers in the poornation.

The official said the interim government had decided toincrease the amount of compensation for poultry farmers toencourage them to report and cull sick birds. The officialdidn't say what the increase would be.

Farmers currently receive between 60 and 80 taka ($0.87 to$1.17) for each culled chicken, which they say is inadequate.Farmers get 60 taka for each duck.

"The authorities are also considering lifting restrictionson paying compensation," the official said. At present, poultryowners receive compensation for up to 5,000 culled chickens.

In the country's second biggest city, Chittagong, officialsstepped up surveillance after the virus was detected in deadcrows.

Pointing to a lack of awareness about the danger of thedisease, a local newspaper on Monday printed a photograph of aman, wearing no mask and holding a stick in his bare hands,sifting through dead crows in the port city.

According to media reports, Chittagong officials said theyknew of no bird flu cases in any of the city's poultry farmsand wondered how to get rid of the crows that apparently flewfrom other districts carrying the virus.

Despite a government drive to burn or bury dead birds, manyfarmers and backyard poultry breeders continue to ignorewarnings, officials said.

Touching or eating sick poultry is the common way to becomeinfected by the H5N1 bird flu virus that has killed more than220 people globally since late 2003.

So far no human infection has been reported in Bangladesh,though about 4 million people are involved in poultry farming.

The H5N1 virus, first detected in Bangladesh in March lastyear, was quickly brought under control through aggressivemeasures including culling, but follow-up monitoring eased inlater months prompting the disease to reappear, experts say.

"It was poor monitoring by the authorities and lack ofefforts and awareness by poultry owners that led to there-emergence of the killer virus in late 2007," said oneofficial at a poultry zone near Dhaka, who asked not to beidentified.

(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Writing by Anis Ahmed; Editing byKatie Nguyen)