Stop Unscrupulous Chicken Meat Importers

Despite the suspension of poultry imports from neighboring countries, unscrupulous dealers have started putting Kenyan lives at a risk.

Uganda’s YoKuku has been smuggling processed chicken to Kenya, and they are selling them in their outlets in Nairobi’s Kawangware, Umoja, Roysambu, Kitengela among other locations.

Local pork and fish importers are also suspected to be participating in this vice as Ugandan chicken is available on their shelves across the country including Mombasa.

An investigation by our reporter shows that these dealers are selling expired chicken to Kenyans, endangering their lives.

Confirming this trend, Kiambu Poultry Farmers Cooperative Association, Zack Munyambu said, “we have found these expired chickens and we have reported the dealers, but they are yet to be arrested. We need the government to intervene and deregister these dealers.”

In January, the government issued a memo to suspend all imports coming to Kenya, as part of the measure to support local farmers recover from the covid 19 impacts.

In a letter to all stakeholder, the Director of Veterinary Services, Dr. Obadiah Njagi said that “while our mandate is sanitary controls of import/export of animal products and in order to support local producers to recover from trade disruptions in their livestock enterprises occasioned by the covid 19 pandemic, we have instructions to suspend importation of the following poultry products into the country with immediate effects; chicken carcasses and cuts and chicken table eggs for human consumption.”

Munyambu said these unscrupulous dealers are out here to kill our farmers, at a time when most major restaurants and eateries have been closed because of Covid-19. “Our farmers have been affected heavily by this second curfew and we need to protect them at all costs to ensure they are benefiting from this window and opportunity,” Mr. Munyambu said.

A press statement issued by the Federation of Kenya Poultry Farmers urged poultry farmers to increase production, “we foresee massive shortage of chicken and eggs supply in the next coming months due to decline in day-old chicks’ placement over the past three weeks. Therefore, we are encouraging our farmers not to stop growing chicken because there is a bigger opportunity coming soon. The government has laid down measures ensure poultry farming will not be interrupted including feed supply and chicken distribution.”

According to Monica Wanjiru, the President of the Federation of Poultry Farmers said that Kenya has a surplus of 253 days in chicken inventory. This means that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the projected supply for poultry products will be good to last at least until the second half of 2021.

Therefore, we are urging Kenyans to consume more chicken than pork, the supply of which is currently on a downtrend.

“The COVID-19 crisis has severely aggravated the situation with the closure of hotels, restaurants, and other institutional buyers coupled with the restrictions in the movement of goods and people under the ECQ,” Ms. Wanjiru said.

As of March 2021, the inventory for dressed chicken frozen inventory stood at 450,000 kilos, a data from the Kenya Poultry and Breeders Association (KPBA). This only pertains only to cold storage facilities accredited by the KPBA.

“In order to preserve the remaining production potential for 2021, the importation of poultry meat and poultry products must cease as soon as possible so that the industry, especially those who play key roles in the value chain, can hold on until times are less volatile,” the lobby group said.

The farmer’s lobby group pointed out that such a request is not unprecedented since poultry associations in Europe have similarly asked for similar relief to “prevent” an oversupply crisis in the sector during the pandemic. Smuggling of unauthorized meat which has not been inspected by Kenyan authorities poses a grave health danger to Kenya citizens and must be stopped immediately.