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Poultry import ban hurts Isles tourism
2006-06-27 09:12:53
By Mwinyi Sadallah, Zanzibar
Zanzibar Tourism Commission (ZTC) has protested the government’s ban on importation of poultry and its products saying it was negatively impacting on the sector.
The government banned the importation of poultry and its products amid fears of an outbreak of bird flu.
ZTC Chairman Issa Ahmed Othman made the petition while presenting a report on the evaluation of the impact of the ban on the sector.
He complained that the sector had been adversely affected because local production of poultry and its products had failed to meet the market demand.
More than 60 per cent of poultry meat, Othman said, is imported. He noted that poultry farming on the Isle was underdeveloped.
Currently, he said, the price of local poultry had gone up forcing people to resort to seafood.
’’The price of poultry has gone up and the tourism sector is affected as well but this should be a lesson to us to strengthen livestock and the agriculture sector,’’ he said.
He said that the government ought to give small loans to livestock keepers and fishermen so they are able to step up production and benefit from the flourishing tourism industry.
He regretted that most of the poultry products consumed in tourist hotels on the Isles were imported from Brazil, South Africa, United Arab Emirates and Tanzania mainland regions.
He said the tourism policy would not succeed without cooperation between the commission and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources.
Following the ban, Othman revealed that some unscrupulous businessmen had resorted to smuggling poultry into Zanzibar.
Recently, health and veterinary officers seized an imported consignment of poultry and booked three businessmen.
However, the police ordered their release, saying their arrest was improper as the consignment entered Zanzibar before the ban.
Director of Livestock Development Department, Dr. Kassim Gharib Juma said the order to ban importation of poultry in Zanzibar would remain in force, until the disease is contained in all parts of the world.
Dr. Gharib said the only poultry products allowed to enter Zanzibar are from the mainland.
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