By Winnie Kamau
The Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Agriculture has partially lifted trade ban on poultry and poultry products between Kenya and Uganda.
Cabinet Secretary of Agriculture, Willy Bett in a Press Briefing told the media that they had given the Government of Uganda seven sanctions for them to fulfill before a full lifting of the ban can be effected.
Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) confirmed the first outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N8) on 15th January 2017. This led to Kenya’s Government issuing the ban on importation of Poultry and Poultry Products from Uganda as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of avian influenza into the country.
Uganda subsequently asked for the lifting of the ban that sees a trading transaction of 5 million dollars a year between the two countries in poultry and poultry products. The government of Kenya acknowledged that there was a lot of informal trades going on at the borders between the two countries which had not been documented yet.
CS Bett underscored full lifting of the ban was pegged on the adherence of the seven recommendations the technical team had made between the two countries “As a country, our priority is to ensure that this disease does not come to the country”.He said.
In affirming the partial lift on 3 facilities in Uganda CS Bett noted the poultry premises had demonstrated high levels of bio-security were; Hudani Manji Holdings-Rainbow, SR Afrochick and Kukuchic. “We have given information to Kenyan authorities to allow products from these facilities which are not jeopardizing the spread of the disease in the country,” confirmed Bett.
It is yet to be seen if the government of Uganda will adhere to the sanctions by Kenya and allow traders and farmers of poultry resume to their conventional quid pro quo.
