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The Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Hannah Louisa Bissiw, has said the ban on the movement of poultry in the country was only on the hawking of live birds on the streets and within markets.

She explained that the ban was to encourage people to buy their birds from certified retailers so as to reduce the spread of the Avian Influenza (Bird flu) in the Greater Accra Region.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Dr Bissiw said the decision by the Veterinary Services Department of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) to place a temporary ban on the sale and movement of live birds within Accra was also to encourage the proper transportation of birds from farms to the market with appropriate trucks.

She said the ministry was going to carry out public education within markets and through the mass media to ensure that people confined their birds.

Earlier, the President of the Poultry Association of Ghana, Mr Victor Oppong Adjei, said the decision by MoFA to place a ban on the sale and movement of live birds was a threat to the industry’s survival.

He was of the view that the directive would have dire consequences on the poultry industry.

Also in an interview with retailers of live birds in some markets in Accra, they expressed sadness at the earlier decision to ban the movement of live birds in Accra.

They said the hype in the spread of bird flu and the temporary ban on the movement of birds had led to a drop in the sale of live birds.

Reactions
The retailers claimed that although the celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr was just a few days away, they were yet to cash in on the festival.

They were of the view that the issue of bird flu had been with the country for decades and it had never killed anybody, but now the government had taken the issue as though it was a killer disease, resulting in people shunning the consumption of local poultry products.

At the Kaneshie Market, Mr William Akrubidi, who said he had sold fowls for the past 30 years, disclosed that reports of the disease had affected his business, saying, “This is one of the worst markets that I have experienced.”

“At first with about 20 other retailers in the market here, we are able to sell at least 500 birds each every week, but today we cannot even sell 100 birds each in a week,” he said.

He was of the view that the most dangerous carriers of bird flu were rather the imported dressed chicken as no one knew if the birds died before they were dressed.

“We cannot sell sick birds to people, even the people will not buy when they see that the birds are sick,” he said.

Call for education
At the Mallam Market, Mr Isaiah Akawiba said the government had put fear in people and, therefore, their sales had gone down.

However, his bone of contention was that the government was not educating people on the disease but was rather creating fear and panic among the people.

He said now he did not even sell more than five fowls a day, although in time past around this time he would have been very busy with a lot of his Muslim customers.

At the Agbogbloshie Market, another retailer, Mr Joseph Aporo, also lamented the fact that the government’s initiative had killed their business, pointing out, however, that this would not be the solution to the problem.

According to him, the call for the ban on movement of fowls was inappropriate as the birds were certified before they left the farm gates.
He was hopeful that the market would pick up between Friday and Saturday when Muslims prepare to observe the Eid-ul-Fitr.

Ban
A statement signed by the acting Director of the Veterinary Services Department, Dr Ben Aniwa, last Tuesday said, “The general public and especially, cockerel and pullet vendors are advised to cease the practice until further notice as their movement from place-to-place poses a threat to both humans and birds.”

According to the statement, two of the outbreaks in the Greater Accra Region had been linked to vendors.

Bird flu is a deadly strain of a virus that attacks poultry and kills them after a short period. The deadly H5N1 bird flu can kill humans and has killed people worldwide, particularly in Asia and the Middle East since 2003.