Mozambique: New egg supplier needed following bird flu outbreak

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: New egg supplier needed following bird flu outbreak

8:21 CAT | 31 Oct 2023

File photo: AIM

The government of Maputo province, southern Mozambique, will hire a new supplier of fertile eggs to deal with a possible shortage of the product due to the avian flu detected in the country, an official source announced.

“The government is going to identify a new supplier of fertile eggs and chicken meat, taking into account the urgent need to ensure that there is no shortage of supply,” said Lúdgero Gemo, spokesman for the Executive Council of Maputo province, quoted on Tuesday by Radio Mozambique.

At issue is the bird flu diagnosed in a production unit in the Mozambican province of Inhambane, leading to the slaughter of 45,000 laying hens that produced around 44,000 eggs for consumption every day, a case linked to dozens of outbreaks of two different strains that are spreading in neighbouring South Africa.

ALSO READ: Mozambique: High airport fees raise price of chicks and chickens

According to Lúdgero Gemo, the provincial government also intends to acquire equipment for the timely diagnosis of bird flu, an intention that he believes will “entail quite exorbitant costs”, without mentioning the amount.

The diagnosed flu “constitutes a major challenge for the government, considering that this outbreak could cause a shortfall in supply of eggs and chickens,” said the spokesman for the Maputo Executive Council.

The provincial director of Agriculture and Fisheries, Mariamo Luísa Pedro José, warned in an interview with Lusa, of a possible rise in the price of eggs allied to the flu following the incineration of almost a thousand dozen eggs in Maputo.

In the markets of Maputo city, the price of eggs has already skyrocketed, from 230 meticais (€3) to more than 300 meticais (€4) for a comb of 30.

According to consumers and vendors interviewed by Lusa, in addition to being more expensive, eggs have become scarce in the Mozambican capital since the flu was detected in Inhambane.

The Mozambican authorities said that surveillance had been stepped up throughout the country, especially on the border with South Africa and in the provinces close to Inhambane.

Source: Lusa