Market women at the Lome poultry markets are not happy with the decision by the Togolese authorities to ban imports of all poultry products including live chicken, eggs, turkey tails and day old chicks from neighbouring Ghana.
Togolese health authorities placed the ban due to the outbreak of bird flu in the capital city of Ghana. This ban, however, has provoked angry disagreements from market women and poultry dealers in Togo who are angry about the generalised manner in which the ban was announced, creating the wrong impression that all chicken sold in Togo are imported from Ghana. They say that the ban has scared away their customers who now believe that all the chicken sold comes from Ghana, and may be infected with the disease.
The women have threatened to stage a protest to the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Fishing.