Bird Flu scares killing poultry industry

Accra June 6, GNA - Bird Flu scares continue to affect the consumption of chicken and productivity of poultry in the country, Mr Kofi Agyei-Henaku, Executive Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers, said on Tuesday in Accra.

Speaking at a press conference on the global phenomenon of Bird Flu, Mr Agyei-Henaku said poultry farmers had suffered between 30 per cent and 40 per cent drop in the prices of their products during the peak of the scares.

"Some farmers are still keeping broilers for 14 weeks instead of the average eight weeks during which they reach market weight.

'They also had to destroy large quantities of eggs that overstayed their shelf-life."

Mr Agyei-Henaku said the capital base and cash inflows of most poultry operations, especially large scale farmers, were being affected and thus becoming indebted to financial institutions.

He said feed millers continued to experience poor sales while most hatcheries had to destroy large number of day-old chicks.

A reputable hatchery operator in the Greater Accra Region, who had to destroy 49,760 day-old chicks within six weeks because prospective customers failed to collect them, leading to a loss of more than 358 million cedis.

He said this distressing phenomenon had begun to have a multiple effect on affiliated industries such as the drug supply and feed inputs, adding; "there is a lot of maize on the local markets which is not being bought".

Mr Agyei-Henaku called for Government's intervention to empower private entrepreneurs to mob up the excess maize off the market and store them to enable grain farmers to prepare their lands for replanting for the next farming season.

"We believe such a policy decision will avert a repetition of last year=92s maize crisis, which sent the poultry industry into the verge of total demise."

Bird Flu also known as Avian Influenza is a disease of birds caused by a virus.

Mr Ernest Kubour Debrah, Minister of Food and Agriculture, noted the Avian Flu Influenza (Bird Flu) posed more economic threat to the nation since the poultry industry was suffering from low consumption due to the disease.

He said no case of bird flu was reported in Ghana and there had been no case confirmed in human in West Africa and encouraged people to consume poultry products as the disease did not render poultry products unwholesome for human consumption.

"The early message received on the disease from the international and some local media sent down some scare and panic among those in the poultry industry and the general public=94 Mr Debrah said.

Science has proved that heat temperature of 70 degrees Celsius can easily destroy the virus responsible for the flu in birds," he said.

He stressed that poultry was safe for all humans once it had been well cooked and noted that consumption had gone down considerably because of the wrong message that was put in the public domain.

The Agriculture Minister gave the assurance that even though no outbreak had been recorded in the country, the Government would not rest on her oars since the disease could occur in one's farm anytime, any day as long as there was continuous movement of birds and humans within and across the borders.

Ms Bethanne Moskov of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced that the Agency had committed 160 million dollars to fight the Avian Influenza as the low consumption of poultry had negative economic implications.

She expressed USAID's readiness to help the poultry industry and noted that the threat to it could also affect other sectors of the economy.

Ms Moskov encouraged people to patronize poultry products as it had high nutritional values and was the only source of protein for some people in the rural areas.

Dr Mensah Agyen-Frempong, Director of Veterinary Services, emphasized the need to consume poultry products, saying: "Chicken and eggs are the cheapest source of protein."

He said the virus had not been detected anywhere in the country and there was a taskforce to deal with the disease if it should be detected in Ghana.

Dr Agyen-Frempong called for the cooperation of the public to enable the taskforce to achieve success and he gave the assurance that there were structures in place to deal with the Flu if it were detected in the country.