VIRUS KILLS 10 000 CHICKENS

MBABANE – Christmas won’t be merry for some farmers as they have complained about a virus which is killing their chickens.

So serious is the virus that a farmer has lost about 10 000 chickens in a space of two weeks. When contacted for comment, the farmer confirmed that he had lost the aforementioned number of chickens. However, he politely requested not to disclose his name and location as he said he had not informed his stakeholders. What can be disclosed though is that the farmer’s business is located in the Manzini Region. The distraught farmer mentioned that this would affect his business. He said: “This is a disaster, I cannot say much for now because when they see this before they are informed, there will no longer be any collaboration between myself and them.”   

Sickness

Meanwhile, another farmer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he had gone to the Manzini Veterinary Services to report a sickness which affected his chickens. The farmer claimed that the chickens’ feathers kept falling off and they also excreted watery droppings. “We are really alarmed because the ministry tells us it is not aware if what causes this disease. It will be bad for our business,” the farmer said. When reached for comment, Dr Xolani Dlamini, who is the Director of Veterinary Services in the Ministry of Agriculture, said the department would investigate the matter before they can issue an official comment. “Yes, there seems to be something going on. Apparently there is suspicion between the day-old chicks suppliers, feed suppliers and farmers with regard to the source of the problem, which is the cause of death,” Dlamini said.

He went on to state that the ministry would be investigating the matter further. Dlamini said at the moment, he did not have all the facts such as the number of farmers affected and number of chickens involved. The chicken disease follows a contained report, which was released by the Ministry of Agriculture last week. It came after a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in the Republic of South Africa. The outbreak was reported to have hit the Vhembe District of the Limpopo Province in January 2019. The report stated that South Africa conducted investigations following the outbreak and thereafter implemented control measures, which included movement restrictions, cordoning-off the affected area as well as vaccination of all the cattle in the affected area. It also stated that the neighbouring country had since indicated readiness to resume exports after there were no further FMD cases outside the cordoned-off area.

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