(Business in Cameroon) - After close to two months of crisis due to the discovery of bird flu outbreaks in four regions (Central, Southern, Western and Adamaoua) in the country in May, operators in the poultry sector are breathing a sigh of relief.

Indeed, after the lift of the ban on the sale of chicken in the Southern region, the governor of the Western region, Awa Fonka Augustine, also officially lifted, on 15 July, this ban for the Mifi and Koung-khi districts, located in this production area representing roughly 80% of the Cameroonian poultry sector.

Moreover, these sales will be conducted exclusively, we learn, in test markets specially set up on sites deemed sanitary, with the support of the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries (Minepia).

However, though they are content with this significant progress with relation to the bird flu crisis, poultry farmers from the top production area in Cameroon bemoan being constrained to sell their production locally. This especially as the ban on the sale of chicken is still in force in the Cameroonian capital, a storage or transit destination for cargo heading to other regions in Cameroon or even neighbouring countries.

BRM