Ugandan poultry farmers have been urged to restock to bridge chicken shortage caused by the bird flu scare that escalated last October, the state-owned daily New Vision reported on Monday.

Ugandan Poultry Association Chairperson Aga Sekalala appealed on the farmers of the east African country to stock poultry following a sharp shortage of chicken. Most of the major supermarkets in the capital of Kampala had no chicken on their stalls last week.

Global poultry industry has faced serious challenges from the bird flu H5NI. The avian flu exerted great economic impacts on those countries which have directly suffered from the attack. In Africa, the virus was found in Nigeria last October.

The likelihood of virus attack on Uganda is highly possible due to the fact that the migratory birds thought to carriers of the virus fly over country during their southern migration.

The Ugandan government, therefore, imposed a ban on the importation of poultry and poultry products last November, causing the closure of farms and forcing farmers to stay away.

Source: Xinhua