By Kouthar Sambo
Following the outbreak of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A (H5N1), which was first detected in Mpumalanga in May, the agricultural industry predicted a chicken and egg shortage.
Some reports deemed the outbreak as the worst virus in South African history since the outbreak resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of chickens and eggs.
Speaking on VOC’s Drive Time show earlier today, President of the Black Farmers Association of South Africa said the Avian flu is a “foreign sickness.”
According to Mtshagi, black farmers have been kept in the dark about the looming crisis.
“We do not receive any engagement so I do not know if we are maybe unimportant. However, this Avian flu is bad, and other countries have also been affected by this outbreak. The farmers that are most affected are the commercial farmers as the smaller farmers are buying from the commercial farmers, and the virus gets transmitted to other farmers,” explained Mtshagi.
Mtshagi went on to confirm that there will be a shortage of eggs and chicken meat.
“Without eggs, there is no chicken. We are heading for a disaster, and the farmers are going to push their prices up while the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be hit hard since no GDP will be generated through this industry,” reiterated Mtshagi.
Photo: VOCfm
