(Business in Cameroon) - Following an avian flu epizootic, the Mvog-Betsi poultry Complex, one of the main players in the poultry industry in Cameroon, just lost approximately 24,000 birds, equivalent to 75% of its livestock, the Cameroonian Minister of Livestock, Dr Taïga announced. The remainder of the flock was killed and all carcasses were buried, this member of the government highlighted.

In order to avoid any spreading of the epizootic, the Mvog-Betsi poultry complex has been put practically under quarantine since the end of last week. According to our sources, specialised teams continue the incineration operations for all the equipment of the farm, as well as the total disinfection of the complex, which could last over a month.

Once the epizootic declared, the Ministry of Livestock sent a mission in the Western region, the largest production area of the country, to assess the situation and warn farmers to heighten the vigilance and sanitary measures in the farms.

The last case of avian flu found in Cameroon dates back to March 2006 in the Extreme-North region, when analyses done on a duck carcass detected the presence of the H5N1 virus in its organism. This discovery created to a full-blown psychosis within the Cameroonian population, leading to the collapse of the local poultry market which quickly became the stage for unprecedented sales.

This psychosis also led to the slaughtering of an important stock of poultry by farmers, who later received over FCfa 600 million from the Cameroonian government as compensation. The local poultry sector was again injured, when it had barely recovered after the ban on the imports of frozen chicken.

BRM