Government Has Suspended Importation of Poultry and Poultry Products
Government has through the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries suspended the importation of poultry and poultry products into the country until further notice.
The move is aimed at combating the spread of the deadly Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) that has hit over ten countries worldwide.
According to Mulengera publications, this means that chicken lovers in Uganda will now have no option but to depend purely on the local birds available here whether they want it or not.
Dr. Anna Rose Ademun, the Commissioner Animal Health at the Agriculture ministry in a statement dated November 12, says they have got information from World Organization of animal health (OIE) that HPAI strain which had formerly been reported in Netherlands, has now spread to more than ten countries including, Israel, Afghanistan, Korea Republic, Germany, China, Russia, South Africa, Denmark, United Kingdom, Poland and Kazakhstan.
She added that transit of poultry and poultry products though the above countries has also been banned henceforth.
“All import permits that were previously issued by this office for poultry and poultry products before the notification of the outbreak and have not arrived into the country have all been cancelled and recalled with immediate effect,” said Commissioner Ademun.
Sources said the low and high strain attacks both domestic and wild birds and can cause severe disease with high mortality. It also has a possibility of being transmitted to human beings.
Birds infected with low strain of the virus may suffer mild illnesses and may not be detected. However, those with high strain can spread it through their saliva, feces and nasal secretions and as a result infect other birds through contact with surfaces contaminated by the infected birds.
Experts say that HPAI is a trans-boundary animal disease that is zoonotic because it has a devastating effect on the poultry industry in addition to public health.
The Netherlands on October 29, 2020 announced the outbreak of the virus at a poultry farm after the virus was discovered in two wild mute swans. 34 farms near or 10km from the farm were later put under surveillance and a transport ban was later imposed on all the farms to contain the spread of the virus. Now that the disease has spread like wildfire to more than 10 countries in different continents (making the already COVID-stricken globe even more nervous), there is more reason to worry something that has forced the Agriculture Ministry to put in place restrictive measures against poultry imports from the above mentioned countries.
