With a price spike of up to 40%, the players in the sector are ensuring the availability of this poultry from this month of December.
Chicken is becoming scarce and prices are rising. The Mvog-Ada market in Yaoundé, renowned for its availability of this poultry, is not spared by the inflation of the last weeks of November. "Thechicken that I usually buy at 3000 FCFA today costs 4000 FCFA or even 4500 FCFA at the sellers," says a housewife.
The reason given for this price spike that comes on the eve of the end of the year holidays and the holding of the African Cup of Nations (CAN) in the country, "the shortage of day-old chicks at the company Agrocam, one of the largest suppliers on the market, is a significant factor, which leads to price fluctuations on the market" informs the Poultry Interprofession of Cameroon (Ipavic). In addition, the sector of activity has been hit for almost two years by variations in the international market, due to the Covid-19 health crisis and the appearance of avian influenza in some European countries supplying inputs. .
However, the inter-profession wants to reassure consumers. "There were consultations between the Interprofession and Cameroon. I am referring in particular to the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries and the Ministry of Commerce. Thanks to this ongoing dialogue between us, the department took steps a few months ago to import breeding stock from certain countries that were not affected by avian influenza. We went into production with these breeders, and for the past month we have been putting enough chicks on the market. It is from this data that I affirm that during the end of the year holidays, and even during the months of January and February, there will be enough chickens on the market," explains the president of Ipavic.
An elective general assembly of Ipavic is being held on 2 December to set up inter-professional bodies. It is a question of electing delegates from four main production basins of the country (the great North, the great Center, the North-West and the West, and the Littoral and the South-West). These delegates will appoint a board of directors and an ethics committee for the next five years. In 2019, poultry farming provided Cameroon with 71% of its meat production, far ahead of cattle farming, according to a study on the strategic positioning of the meat and fish sectors, published by the Cameroonian Business Upgrading Bureau (BMN).
