Poultry farmers specializing in the production of broiler chickens, affiliated with the And Soukhali Livestock Association, are asking the State to take urgent measures to deal with the poor quality of chicks, the high cost of poultry feed, imports of chicken legs, among other obstacles to the poultry industry.By Alioune Badara NDIAYE (Correspondent) –
Urgent measures to address the poor quality of chicks, the high cost of food and imports of chicken legs. This is what broiler breeders grouped around the And soukhali broiler breeding association expect. At a press conference yesterday, at the Rufisque village hall, they called on the authorities to take concrete action against these evils which are slowly killing small breeders.
Returning to the reasons for organizing the meeting with the press, Lamine Samba Cissokho, president of the association set up in January 2024, noted: “On October 30, after our meeting in Keur Mbaye Fall, we addressed correspondence to the Minister in charge of Livestock, the Minister of Commerce, the Customs Department and also to consumer associations; unfortunately we received no feedback. This is why we decided to face the press to make ourselves heard.” That said, the president went into detail. “There is a real problem with the chicks we buy. They are good, but often of poor quality and more seriously, there is no recourse. There is also the food which is expensive. We were told about the rise in the price of corn or even about the war (in Ukraine). Today, the price of corn has fallen, but the price of a bag has not fallen,” he said. “Imports of chicken legs and other products such as liver have a negative impact on the sale of our full-term chickens. All the country’s markets are invaded by these products, while a 2005 decree prohibits the importation of chicken legs into our country,” insisted Salimata Seck, another member of the association. For her, this importation also poses public health problems. Nothing proves to us that these are natural chickens. Breeders and consumers are impacted, because there is a big difference between these chickens and those we raise. “We hear of seizures of pharmaceutical products, counterfeit notes or drugs, but never of chicken legs, even though we all know where they come from. Nothing is being done against chicken legs,” lamented Massamba Sembène, regretting this laxity maintained for years.
What they expect is an appropriate response from the authorities to this situation which endangers the efforts of their sector which provides at least more than 80 thousand direct jobs.
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