The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries has imposed a temporary ban on importation of live birds and other poultry products from the Netherlands to combat the spread of the pathogenic avian influenza.
In a statement dated November 5th, 2020, Dr. Anna Rose Ademuh, the Commissioner Animal Health at the agriculture ministry says because the Netherlands has announced the outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in both domestic and wild birds.
On October 29th, 2020, the Netherlands 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 are under surveillance and a transport ban has been imposed on all these farms to contain the spread of the virus.
The country also plans to carry out mass culling of 35,00 animals to prevent the spread of the virus while the European Union member states and other countries are putting in place restrictive measures against poultry imports from the Netherlands.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-CDC, birds infected with the low strain of the virus may suffer mild illnesses and may not be detected. However, those with the high strain can spread the virus through their saliva, faeces and nasal secretions and as a result infect other birds through contact with surfaces contaminated by the infected birds.
Also, this strain can cause severe disease with high mortality and has a possibility of being transmitted to human beings.
Dr. Ademuh explains that HPAI is “a trans-boundary animal disease that is zoonotic, it has a devastating effect on the poultry industry in addition to public health.”
As a result, “the ministry has banned with immediate effect the importation of all poultry and poultry products from the Netherlands until further notice. In addition, transit of poultry and poultry products through the Netherlands has been banned.” states Dr. Ademuh.
She said that all import permits that were previously issued by her 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.
Dr. Ademuh’s statement comes a day after Dr. Amina Namwabira, the senior veterinary inspector at Entebbe Airport announced the ban on live birds, eggs and also poultry feeds from the Netherlands.
Aga Sekalala, the chairman Poultry Association of Uganda, says that 26 importers are affected including his company, UgaChick. Others include; Kuku Chic and REAP Uganda Ltd that has been importing mainly day-old chicks and feeds from the Netherlands.
“The Netherlands has been a major source for the birds and other poultry products because KLM operates regular flights from Amsterdam to Entebbe,” says Sekalala, ” But this ban will now require us to source products from Spain, the United Kingdom, and Italy which will involve additional transport costs and longer waiting time before delivery,” he said.
Prossy Namugera, the Managing Director of REAP Uganda says the company has been importing between 20,000 to 30,000 one-day-old chicks from the Netherlands every month. She however declined to disclose how much the company will lose as a result of the ban and yet they had placed orders for birds.
She however says over 5,000 farmers who buy the chicks from her company have been affected by this ban. She however says that the ministry has not sent a formal communication to importers.
The United Nations COMTRADE database on International trade estimates that Uganda imported poultry keeping machinery and other agricultural products from the Netherlands worth 251,600 US Dollars, about shillings 934 million in 2018.
These included 30 metric tonnes of live birds and less than 30 metric tonnes of fertilized eggs for incubation imported in 2018. The Netherlands is among the top five global poultry meat exporters that include Brazil, the United States of America and Poland.
Meanwhile, other countries including Russia and Germany have also been affected by the outbreak of the avian influenza this year.
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