Poultry farmers protest over dumping from Uganda

Poultry farmers have lodged a complaint with the government that an importer is dumping cut chicken from Uganda into the market.

In a letter addressed to the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS), the farmers have asked for intervention to protect them from the illegal business. 

“Only fully dressed chicken is approved as import from Uganda, parts are not acceptable because it is difficult to verify what else is coming with the parts,” says the letter from the Federation of Kenya Poultry Farmers.

“This also acts as a control to avoid import of some parts which could originate from more developed markets including South Africa, China, Middle East and Europe categorised as ‘waste’ since they do not consume the parts.”

The federation said through purchases by its members at the distributor’s shop in Babadogo, it had obtained evidence of chicken parts from Uganda being sold in Nairobi, yet the import permits by DVS and customs documents show whole chicken.

“We have obtained evidence of chicken dumping by the Uganda importer as per the KRA documents. The price of chicken in Kampala by the same importer is $3.27 (Sh360) per kilo,” said the federation.

“According to the export invoice by the same trader, the price of chicken per kilo is $2.35 (Sh260) delivered at Babadogo. This means the export price is lower than the normal value by 28 per cent and proves dumping.”

“This is illegal and a gross violation of import rules and exposes Kenyans to unauthorised and unsafe chicken,” the letter said.

The federation recently asked the government to suspend the importation of processed poultry products until all the issues are resolved.