Nairobian smuggles 300 quail eggs to Kampala

              Quail eggs                                Photo: Courtesy

It appears Nairobians are moving to Uganda to reap the untapped profits in quail business since the wild bird’s fever is yet to catch the matoke nation.

On April 20, the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) seized more than 300 quail eggs from a Kenyan registered bus, KBU 417U, travelling to Kampala, according to the New Vision newspaper.

The eggs, which were packed in a box weighing 6kg, were intercepted at the Owen Falls Dam in Jinja, where a team of URA officials had mounted an operation.

Revenue officials got into the bus and asked for the owner of the package, but in typical Kenyan fashion, no one owned up.

“Anybody in possession of wildlife and their products such as eggs should have a permit,” Jossy Muhangi, public relations manager of Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) told the New Vision.

Muhangi said the eggs had been handed over to UWA for further management.

Uganda’s major concern with imported eggs, according to the state-owned newspaper, is the fear of spreading diseases to indigenous birds.

“We are going to destroy the eggs once investigations are concluded,” said Muhangi, adding that Ugandans are now getting interested in quail breeding.

Poultry farmers in Nairobi have experienced a slump in quail business in the past four months. Most farmers blame the media for extensive coverage of quail farming as the ‘next big thing’, which as a result led to an oversupply and fall in price of an egg from around Sh150 to Sh20.

Known as enkwale in Uganda, quails are savannah birds, believed to be highly nutritious and medicinal, according to Muhangi.

He told Ugandan breeders to apply for permits from UWA or face prosecution for running illegal businesses.

Farmers in Kenya have to get permits from Kenya Wildlife Service to keep the wild birds.