… SADC countries ban Zim exports
IN just one week, one of southern Africa’s biggest poultry producers, Irvine’s Zimbabwe, lost 15 percent of its chickens following a severe outbreak of avian influenza H5N8 at its Lanark Farm on the southern limits of Harare.
Last week’s outbreak immediately sent shockwaves across the sub-region, which accesses 50 percent of its poultry and related products from Irvine’s.
Three Southern African Development Community countries — South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique — have since banned poultry and related products from Zimbabwe. The giant poultry producer also has its tentacles firmly spread across Zimbabwe through out-grower schemes that feed into the company’s colossal distribution network.
Zimbabwe Poultry Association (ZPA) chairman, Solomon Zawe said the outbreak was a big blow to the industry and it would take some time for the industry to recover.
“We are very sorry for Irvine’s as they have had to cull 140 000 birds which are part of their breeding stock. Zimbabwe does not really export poultry products, but Irvine’s has some contractual agreements in the Southern African Development Community to export breeding stock. The panic button is on and we are open to every advice we can get, but so far Irvine’s are doing their best to contain the outbreak,” Zawe said.
The ZPA said the outbreak is still contained at Irvine’s.
“The outbreak is not good news for the country, but we emphasise the need for high bio-security measures to be implemented so that we contain the outbreak. The Department of Veterinary Services is on the ground and are busy fighting to stop the spread of the virus,” he added.
Wary South African poultry producers are apprehensive and fear they could lose as many as 140 million birds to the virus if it happens to spread from Harare.
“We are most certainly worried, this is the first time that Zimbabwe has had a pathogenic avian influenza in its chickens …that means we are still at risk,” South African Poultry Association’s Kevin Lovell told South Africa’s Eyewitness News.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the avian influenza virus, which has at least 13 strains, can easily be carried across national boundaries through the trade, transport and travel routes and the natural flight paths of wild birds.
“Since the outbreaks of the disease in 2003, more than 250 million birds have died or have been killed (around the world) in an attempt to halt its spread. This has caused an immediate loss of income for hundreds of thousands of poultry smallholders, mostly in a number of Asian countries, but also in Africa and parts of Europe,” says WHO, which adds that global poultry bird population stands at about 18 billion today, up from 14 billion 10 years ago.
Poultry numbers have surged due to rising demand for white meat.
Backyard poultry systems in Africa account for 70 percent of the continent’s poultry as poor communities try to wriggle out of poverty through chicken production.
In a statement published on its Facebook page, the Botswana government announced that it had banned the importation of domesticated and wild birds, their products and poultry feed from Zimbabwe with immediate effect, while Mozambican authorities also issued a statement last week banning poultry imports from Zimbabwe.
While government and Irvines are still counting the losses, the development is undoubtedly going to seriously affect the poultry producers’s Cobb and H & H breeding stock, hatching eggs, broiler and layer day-old chicks exports to the region.
After Irvine’s slaughtered 140 000 chickens out of two million, the country’s veterinary experts scrambled and locked down the massive Lanark Farm with eight sites that are one kilometre apart.
The devastating avian influenza strain, believed to have emanated from the migratory water fowl inhabiting a nearby dam, was detected in 77 countries between January 2014 and November 2016.
In Africa, Zimbabwe becomes the seventh country to report the virus after the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, Tunisia and Uganda.
Zimbabwean authorities have adopted urgent protective measures for strict “bio-security” on farms and backyard chicken projects that are rampant in the country.
Although the economic impact of the H5N8 outbreak in Zimbabwe is yet to be determined, last year in Europe, the outbreak resulted in US$3,3 billion losses.
Irvine’s could have, however, so far roughly lost more than US$800 000, if a US$6 price tag is placed on each of the 140 000 birds that were slaughtered.
Department of Livestock and Veterinary Services principal director, Unesu Ushewokunze-Obatolu, has urged poultry producers to maintain strict separation of their birds from free ranging and wild birds.
“Generally bio-security including hygiene of personnel working in the poultry houses, equipment and refraining from introducing birds from other flocks is encouraged. Presently we are still computing the cost of this outbreak. The main elements are the intensified national surveillance and related laboratory testing as well as quarantine supervision. We will also be mounting field surveys on wild birds to indicate the extent of our exposure,” said Ushewokunze-Obatolu.
Avian influenza has captured the attention of the international community over the years, with outbreaks having serious consequences on both livelihoods and international trade in many countries.
While other avian influenza strains have affected humans, the H5N8 virus has not yet been detected in humans.
“Our assumption is that all poultry meat being sold has been obtained from healthy flock and through reputable processing facilities. All registered meat processing facilities are required to adhere to this under the Public Health Act Abattoir and Slaughter regulations. However, the H5N8 outbreak we are handling is not affecting the human population,” Ushewokunze-Obatolu said.
The Department of Veterinary Services is currently putting in place necessary preventive measures against the spread of the virus which can cause a 70 percent fatality rate in infected poultry population.
The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has indicated that Zimbabwean authorities had informed the OIE about the outbreak on June 1, 2017.
OIE head of communications unit Catherine Bertrand-Ferrandis said: “Since H5N8 subtypes of the virus cause high mortality in domestic poultry, the World Organisation for Animal Health recommends that veterinary services in at risk countries, such as Zimbabwe and neighbouring countries, increase prevention efforts through bio-security to minimise contact between wild birds and poultry and also enhance surveillance and preparedness.
“Countries are also encouraged to strengthen their targeted wild bird surveillance activities in areas where viruses have been detected and in other areas where there are significant populations of migratory waterfowl.”
Because of the stability of the virus in the environment and its highly contagious nature, strict bio-security measures and good hygiene are essential in protecting against disease outbreaks.
If the infection is detected in animals, a policy of culling infected and contact animals is normally used in an effort to rapidly contain, control and eradicate the disease.
As a precautionary and regulatory measure, animals that have been culled as a result of measures to control an avian flu outbreak should not be consumed by humans.