The government has taken a step forward through the Department of Agriculture and Livestock to put a ban on the import of frozen chicken products.
The announcement was made yesterday by the Agriculture Minister Aye Tambua. This will come into effect probably next month going forward.
This is following an advice from the National Agriculture and Quarantine Inspection Authority (NAQIA) to protect the country’s poultry from diseases that may come from the imported chicken.
According to the Minister Tambua, a disease believed to be the Avian Influenza, a disease of the birds has been affecting parts of Asia in the last months.
He said if the country is not careful it will affect the poultry as well as people in the country. Therefore a decision was made to impose a ban on the import of frozen chicken products.
“The government is concerned that if the disease comes into the country, it will really kill the poultry industry,” Minister Tambua said.
“Our poultry industry worth almost a billion kina, other countries can survive although they have disease like that but for us it’s really hard, we don’t have the capacity to assist our farmers,” Tambua added.
According to reports by the World Health Organization, cases of Avian Influenza have affected people in the Western Pacific with deaths being reported in the last two months and the recent cases in January of this year.
The ban put on these imported frozen chicken product has its side effects. Minister Tambua said in the next few months, there will be shortage of chicken with high demands and high prices.
“Within the next three or four months there will be supply shortage and price increase but they will make up for it as time goes on,” he said.
On the other hand, Tambua said the two major poultry industry in PNG will benefit from it. The government through this ban will see the demand for local chicken to increase, employment opportunities and local SME’s benefit.
“Our local SME will benefit more, our farmers in Lae, Markham and the Highlands will be able to look after more chicken as there is demand for more chicken,” Tambua said.
The minister also noted that, around K200 million Foreign Exchange can be saved through this ban. He clarified that the ban is only for the frozen chicken and not for the mechanical deboned chicken used on food products like biscuits.
