Poultry breeders in Cote d’Ivoire have accused the government of inventing two recent cases of bird flu in an attempt to slow down local production and cash in on pricier imported birds ahead of the Christian and Muslim holiday season.

“Here nobody really believes in bird flu,” said Ibrahim Bakayoko, manager of one of the dozen poultry farms around Abatta, 30 km northeast of the main city, Abidjan. “It is only in the press that we were informed of the discovery of the illness in our area. Health authorities arrived here and all of the poultry farmers expressed our unhappiness. It strongly resembles a plot to slow down our production.”

The central veterinary laboratory in Bingerville identified two cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu last month in two turkeys in Abatta. They were the first reported cases of bird flu in Cote d’Ivoire since April.

International health authorities have warned that Africa is unprepared to handle bird flu, especially if it were to mutate into a virus that could easily pass from one human to another. Bird flu is lethal in fowl and worldwide has infected at least 258 people and killed more than 154 of them since 2003.

An international conference on avian flu is being held in Bamako, Mali, which includes a donor conference on Friday to seek funds to help fight the illness. Much of the money raised is expected to go to Africa. Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Sudan are among the African countries that have detected the presence of H5N1 in poultry and birds.

Livelihoods threatened

The cases of bird flu in Cote d’Ivoire in April resulted in the culling of some 2,000 domestic fowl. Authorities also ordered millions of doses of animal vaccine to halt the spread of the H5N1 strain of the illness.

In addition to poor laboratory capacity and inadequate health infrastructure, Africa’s ability to cope with bird flu is further compromised by its poverty. Preventive measures such as culling birds have profound effects on already impoverished communities that live off selling poultry and other farm produce.

Citing the recent threat of avian flu among domestic fowl, the Ivorian government reduced the import tax on poultry by 50 percent to help meet demand for upcoming Christian, Muslim and New Year holidays.

“We are against this decision. The government doesn’t want to boost our income. They want to kill the poultry network,” said Jean-Marie Aka, president of an Ivorian network of poultry producers known as Ipravi. “People should know that the chickens that are imported from neighbouring countries and the West are going to be poured out on the local market like toxic waste and no one will be able to prove that they’re clean.”

Measures taken

Dr. Bian Tano, programme officer with the United Nations World Health Organisation (WHO), told IRIN that 76 unspecified poultry had been culled on the farm where the recent cases of bird flu were reported and general surveillance measures were undertaken to prevent the disease from spreading to neighbouring farms.

“Due to the health measures taken, with the systematic culling of the two turkeys carrying the virus and with the vaccination of poultry where the turkeys were being traditionally raised, the illness was contained,” said veterinarian Kanga Kouame, the national coordinator for the fight against avian flu.

The government in May imposed a ban on poultry imports after cases of bird flu were discovered near Abidjan. All poultry breeders were called on to adopt rigorous health, sanitation and security measures and to intensify vaccinations to prevent additional cases of bird flu.

The government lifted the ban in September.

Suspicions linger

Poultry producers have threatened to disrupt the poultry market if their grievances are not taken into account. For many of them, poultry production is their only source of revenue. International bird flu specialists have said more effective programmes are needed to compensate farmers when culling is carried out.

Of the 5,000 chickens on Bakayoko’s farm near Abatta, he said more than half have already been ordered for the holidays. Nationally, poultry producers say they are prepared to put 2.5 million fowl on the market for the end-of-year festivities.

Abatta residents say further measures should be taken to find the origins of the most recently infected poultry. They believe the turkeys were contaminated elsewhere.

“Nobody here raises turkeys,” Bakayoko said. “We ask ourselves how they could come from here.”