Poultry sector loses FCFA 10 bln in 1 month

Since the discovery, at the end of May 2016, of an outbreak of bird flu in the Mvog-Betsi poultry farm complex in Yaoundé, the 4th hatchery in Cameroon, whose virus H5N1 has decimated 75% of flocks and caused the destruction of the rest of production; the national poultry industry has already lost around FCFA 10 billion.

This figure was revealed recently in Yaoundé by François Djonou, President of the Poultry Inter-profession of Cameroon (Ipavic).

It was during a meeting of poultry sector operators with the Committee of competitiveness, a body placed under the authority of the Ministry of Economy.

These losses are especially plausible since for one month, the trade in poultry is officially forbidden in the Cameroonian capital, principal transit area for exports to neighbouring countries such as Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

The latter has moreover forbidden imports of Cameroonian poultry to its territory as soon as the bird flu outbreak was discovered in Yaoundé.

This ban on poultry trade in the capital was extended from June 3,2016, to the towns of Bafoussam and Bayangam, both located in the Western region, which alone accounts for about 80% in national poultry production, according to operator statistics.

Indeed, experts in the sector claim, the Western region in Cameroon produces about 300,000 chicks on daily basis which had to be slaughtered for the past three weeks to avoid additional costs to hatcheries (feed, veterinary products, etc) due to the market paralysis.

Western Cameroon also represents 500,000 tons of maize (for a value of around FCFA 110 billion) consumed annually, of which a good part by the producers of feed; and about FCFA 8 billion of expenses annually for veterinary products used in breeding.

All figures that have been affected these last weeks, due to the appearance of bird flu in the large basin of chicken production.