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KIGALI, Feb 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Rwandan government has sustained its halts on the importation of poultry products, especially chicks, as it looks to prevent the spread of bird flu in the country.
Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB) said that the country was now concentrating on bolstering the domestic industry in order to wean itself off foreign supplies.
The government imposed a ban on poultry imports in November last year following an outbreak of bird flu in Europe—the leading supplier of chicks to Rwanda.
The ban, RAB said, was meant to prevent the highly contagious Avian Influenza (AI) or bird flu from spreading in Rwanda. It affects both domestic and wild birds. Occasionally, mammals, including humans, may contract this virus, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
As things stand now, there is no end in sight to the lifting of the ban.
Rwanda has been importing day-old layers of chicks from the Netherlands, Belgium, and Turkey, according to Fabrice Ndayisenga, the Head of Animal Resource Research and Technology Transfer Department at Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB).
Now with monthly 1.2 million day-old chicks produced locally, RAB says the country is moving towards becoming self-sufficient.
While data on day-old chick demand is scarce, Ndayisenga says that local production outweighs demand.
“Local supply is increasing, and we are even exporting,” Ndayisenga said, stressing that locally produced chicks were also more affordable compared to imported ones. A locally produced chick costs Rwf1,000 while an imported one costs Rwf1,500. — NNN-AGENCIES
