MAPUTO, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Mozambique will import chickens from Brazil and Turkey to ease a shortage of supply following a ban on poultry products from neighboring South Africa, which is facing an avian influenza outbreak.
Mozambican importers are authorized to buy around 4,000 metric tons of chickens from these two countries and the products are expected to arrive in about a month, said Americo Conceicao, national director of livestock development at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Tuesday.
Local producers can also import hatching eggs from Brazil and Turkey to guarantee the production process, Conceicao added.
Prices of chickens and eggs have gone up in Mozambique since the government suspended poultry imports last week from South Africa, where avian flu, caused by the H5N8, H5N1, H5N2 and H7 strains, was detected in its Gauteng, North West, Western Cape, Mpumalanga, Free State, Kwazulu Natal and Eastern Cape provinces. ■