Poultry exports ban could soon be lifted

Uganda has submitted a report on eradicating the Azian Influenza (Bad Flu) to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), a development that could see a lift on the ban of poultry exports to her neighbors.

In 2017, traces of Bird flu outbreak were reported in some parts of Entebbe and Masaka. As a result, Kenya – Uganda’s leading trade partner, slapped an export ban on all Poultry products from Uganda.

Even after Uganda contained the avian flu outbreak in March the same year, Kenya did not resume trading freely with her neighbour, something experts said contravened East African Community rules that provide for free movement of goods and services within the region.

However, in August 2017, Kenya partially lifted the ban to only three firms to export poultry products to the regional market leader.

The firms which were given a nod to export under hard-hitting rules were Kukuchic which was allowed to export Da-Old Chicks, Hudani Manji Holdings to export chicken meat and SR Afrochick to exports eggs.

But news coming in indicates that following Uganda’s submission of a report on eradication of the Azian Influenza to OIE, Kenya has promised to lift the ban.
In an interview with our sister newspaper the East African, Mr Harry Kimutai –Kenya’s Livestock Principal Secretary, said: “Uganda has submitted the report to OIE and we are waiting for the same. We are going to lift the ban on poultry exports from Uganda as soon as we get it.”

Responding to this news, the chairman of the Poultry Association of Uganda, Mr Aga Sekalala Jr, in an interview with Prosper Magazine, said: “We have seen the media report but the challenge with this is that we need to see a technical report from the commissioner of agriculture.”

Mr Sekalala who is also the executive director, Ugachick added that they will still wait to see the specifics of the report because there are so many issues to be sorted in the value chain,” Sekalala said.

Dr Rose Ademun, the Commissioner for Animal Health in the Directorate of Animal Resources, could not breakdown the specifics in the report.
“I need to consult from my officers about the details in the report sent to OIE,” she said. But by press time, she had not yet called back this newspaper.

Numbers
According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos) 2018, a total of 47.8 million both indigenous and exotic poultry were produced in the country.

In the same period, the country’s egg production increased by 2.8 per cent from the previous 2017 of 907.1 million. In 2016 the country egg production captured was 882.6 million. This increase was higher compared to the 0.01 per cent that was observed between 2015 and 2016.

Besides Kenya, Uganda exports to Rwanda and South Sudan.