{"id":38548,"date":"2024-03-02T10:32:50","date_gmt":"2024-03-02T10:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chicken-crisis-deepens"},"modified":"2024-03-02T10:43:42","modified_gmt":"2024-03-02T10:43:42","slug":"chicken-crisis-deepens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chicken-crisis-deepens","title":{"rendered":"Chicken crisis deepens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Lesotho\u2019s chicken crisis could be far from over as the government remains reluctant to lift the ban on poultry imports from South Africa. The crisis started in October after South Africa was hit by the avian bird flu.<\/p>\n

Lesotho responded swiftly by banning poultry imports from South Africa. But with the ban now nearing three months businesses have started clamouring for the government to reconsider the decision.<\/p>\n

Some businesses, especially restaurants, have started cutting jobs and others say there will be more people on the streets if the ban is not lifted soon.<\/p>\n

Most affected are fast-food outlets whose menus are heavily dependent on chicken. Even those who have beef on their menus are feeling the pinch because chicken is central to their business.<\/p>\n

But their pleas to the government have so far yielded nothing much. It was the same with the emergency meeting that some restaurant owners had last night, at the State House, with Prime Minister Sam Matekane and officials from the Ministry of Agriculture.<\/p>\n

Some business owners who were part of the meeting said officials from the Ministry of Agriculture\u2019s Veterinary Department were adamant that they would not lift the ban until South Africa officially declares that it is free of the virus.<\/p>\n

The business owners said they were however shocked that the same officials who were insisting on maintaining the ban were quick to admit that they last had direct contact with their South African counterparts in mid-December.<\/p>\n

This, the business owners say, proves the officials are not keeping tabs on the crisis and are using outdated information to make decisions \u201cthat affected thousands of jobs\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the senior officials from the department came to the meeting with a Google article which looked like it was from years ago,\u201d said one of the business owners who said he was annoyed by the attitude of the officials from the department.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had no clue but was insisting on keeping the ban. They had no answers to the technical questions that are supposed to be their responsibility\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said Prime Minister Makekane and the Agriculture Ministry\u2019s Principal Secretary, Moshe Mosaase, \u201cwere eager to find a solution but it appeared that the officials from the veterinary department were hell bent on keeping the ban even though they admitted that they didn\u2019t have the latest information on the situation in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Mosaase told thepost last night that the government is working \u201covertime to find a solution to the problem\u201d. He said last night\u2019s meeting at the State House was part of efforts towards finding a solution.<\/p>\n

Mosaase said one of the options being explored is importing fertilised eggs because they are less risky. He said this option could be implemented in the next week or two and farmers with hatcheries would be able to produce chicks.<\/p>\n

He said if getting the eggs from South Africa is considered too risky the government could turn to Eswatini or other countries that don\u2019t have the outbreak.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to look at ways to help the farmers with the additional cost associated with buying from Eswatini instead of South Africa. We are therefore considering subsidies. \u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the possibility of the ban being lifted any time soon, Mosaase said \u201cas of now the South African option remains closed but there could be a possibility of opening up less risky areas like fertilised eggs\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said a task force dealing with the crisis will meet tomorrow to discuss the options. But business owners say the option of fertilised eggs is long-term and won\u2019t help them out of the crisis they face now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are cutting jobs and losing money,\u201d said one businessperson.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe keep hearing about fertilised eggs and promises to build the local capacity but we don\u2019t believe the technocrats advising the PS and the government understand the level of investment required.
\n\u201cThey also don\u2019t seem to understand that while they are busy talking about building capacity people are losing jobs and companies are bleeding.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Lesotho\u2019s chicken crisis could be far from over as the government remains reluctant to lift the ban on poultry imports from South Africa. The crisis started in October after South Africa was hit by the avian bird flu. Lesotho responded swiftly by banning poultry imports from South Africa. But with the ban […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":38547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[233,246,424,245],"class_list":["post-38548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-government","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nChicken crisis deepens - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lesotho\u2019s chicken crisis could be far from over as the government remains reluctant to lift the ban on poultry imports f ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chicken-crisis-deepens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chicken crisis deepens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lesotho\u2019s chicken crisis could be far from over as the government remains reluctant to lift the ban on poultry imports f ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chicken-crisis-deepens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-02T10:32:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-02T10:43:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2024\/03\/sm_1709363503.138416.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chicken-crisis-deepens#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chicken-crisis-deepens\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Chicken crisis deepens\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-02T10:32:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-02T10:43:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chicken-crisis-deepens\"},\"wordCount\":687,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chicken-crisis-deepens#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2024\/03\/sm_1709363503.138416.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"government\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chicken-crisis-deepens#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chicken-crisis-deepens\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chicken-crisis-deepens\",\"name\":\"Chicken crisis deepens - 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