Bird Flu scare – We need more stakeholder involvement

The Veterinary Services Department of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) last Tuesday temporarily banned the sale and movement of live poultry within Accra to prevent further outbreak of Avian influenza within the city and its environs.

The ban comes after an earlier one in April this year on the importation of poultry and its products from Burkina Faso as a counter-measure against the outbreak of bird flu in Ghana, following an outbreak of the deadly disease in that country.

Nonetheless, it appears as if not much sensitisation has been done on the outbreak, especially with regard to the involvement of major stakeholders in the poultry industry in Ghana.

Apart from the poultry farmers and the hands employed on the various poultry farms in the country, the industry provides a lot of employment and livelihood for many youth who are engaged in the sale of live birds, as well as their products, including eggs, which have a very large market.

Thankfully, a Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Hannah Louisa Bissiw, has said the ban on the movement of poultry in Accra is only on the hawking of live birds on the streets and within markets and is intended to encourage people to buy their birds from certified retailers to reduce the spread of the bird flu in the Greater Accra Region.

Complaints from some of the stakeholders, such as the Poultry Farmers Association of Ghana and retailers of live birds, that the ban is a threat to the industry’s survival and has already resulted in a dip in patronage and sales, however, suggests that there has been very minimal stakeholder involvement in arriving at the decision to place a temporary ban on poultry movement.

The announcement that MoFA is going to carry out public education within markets and through the mass media to ensure that people confine their birds also suggests that education has not been extensive in the war against bird flu in the country.

The Daily Graphic urges the MoFA and the Veterinary Services Department to engage in consultations with poultry farmers associations in the country on the best way to handle the bird flu outbreak, so that we do not end up completely annihilating the poultry industry, which already has major challenges it is grappling with.

Poultry farmers and bird owners also need the assurance of MoFA that when they report any outbreak which is confirmed, the government will adequately compensate them if their birds have to be destroyed, so that the disease does not spread.

The public also needs the assurance that the ban does not mean that all birds and their products have been affected and so must not be patronised. There should be a way to inform the public on poultry products that are good to be consumed to fulfil their dietary needs.