Bird flu scare affects poultry sales during Eid-Ul-Fitr celebrations

The fear of contracting and spreading the avian flu (bird flu) has adversely affected sale and consumption of poultry during this year’s Eid-Ul-Fitr celebration.

Poultry products are known to be the main type of meat consumed by most Muslims in Ghana during the Eid-Ul-Fitr celebrations; however, the announcement by the Ministry of Agriculture of a temporary ban on the movement of poultry products to avoid the spread of bird flu scared several Muslims from buying their usual meat.

A visit by Kasapa 102.3 FM News to the Nima market which has a huge section for the sale of poultry birds revealed that sales had slowed considerably as compared to the same period last year.

Vendors of poultry products who lamented over the state of affairs attributed the situation to the bird flu scare that has hit the entire country.

“I had high hopes of making good business during this Eid celebration, but unfortunately sales this year is very bad, people are afraid to buy the birds for fear of getting this bird flu disease, business has really been affected”.

“I feel very disappointed about the slow pace of sales, I pumped a lot of money into buying these birds hoping to make some real good cash during the Eid-Ul-Fitr celebrations but as you can see my hopes have been dashed” another vendor noted.

On Wednesday, June 10, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture announced the confirmation of bird flu in the country after test samples taken to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Laboratory in Padova, Italy, proved positive.

Bird Flu or Avian flu is a serious contagious viral disease in animals with a potential for some strains to infect humans, with all the health implications. The disease, since January 2015, had been reported in many West African countries, with Nigeria recording the first case followed by Burkina Faso, Niger, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.