Dr. Owusu Akoto Afriyie
The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Akoto Afriyie, had announced that the government has released the sum of GH¢44 million to curtail the spread of bird flu across the country.
According to the Agric Ministry, the outbreak, that occurred in seven regions including the Bono, Ashanti, Greater Accra and the Central regions affected over 700,000 birds.
Speaking at a press briefing in Accra, Dr. Afriyie said the amount was part of major interventions to curb the spread of bird flu.
“It will be recalled that government granted approval for the immediate recruitment and deployment of an initial 550 veterinary professionals out of a total 1,100 professionals throughout the country. The intervention also includes approval for the release of an emergency budget support of approximately GH¢44 million to the ministry. This is for the implementation of an action plan involving some key activities for combating the bird flu,” he said.
Dr. Afriyie said other interventions include public awareness on the bird flu, engagement with key stakeholders, stamping out decontamination, procurement of disposal materials and other logistics as well as payment of compensation to affected farmers.
“The intervention of government is imperative given the VSD strategic mandate of contributing to public health and the development of livestock and poultry industry,” he said.
Dr. Akoto said the interventions were necessary because the disease had reached emergency proportions and needed to be contained with all the urgency and seriousness it deserved to save lives and cost.
Acting Director of Veterinary Services, Dr. Patrick Abakah said a total number of 159 farms that have been affected.
“For the total number of birds that have died as a result of the bird flu, we have 443,400 sick birds. The number of birds that have been destroyed by the VSD is 555,227. The total number of birds destroyed and the number that died through the bird flu we have 730,966,” he said.
Ghana experienced the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) popularly known as bird flu outbreaks in 2007, 2015, 2018, and 2021, leading to high mortality of birds running into thousands, loss of livelihoods, and investments.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri