The effects of bird flu on a busy market town in Niger

6 March 2006

Either on foot, bicycle or motorbike, as if on the Paris- Dakar road, men, women and children head towards the market. Goods of all kinds and sizes also head that way - sometimes in rickshaws with pyramidal loads, by nonchalant carters who can’t care less about the relentless sounds of horns, or in trucks.

We used to see all kinds of goods on the way to the main market of Maradi. However, one particular item is missing now: poultry. I haven’t seen any trace of birds, and messages about avian flu have had some impact on the market of Maradi. I decided to get into Babban Kassoua (the ‘big market’) to meet the poultry sellers.

The north-western section of the market, which is reserved for poultry traders, is almost empty. There’s a heavy-laden atmosphere tinged with sadness. The busy alley-ways, usually so narrow that people have to force their way through, suddenly seem abnormally wide and empty. The lines of cages and crates which used to be so lively, house only rare and quiet birds and hens or guinea fowls with dull eyes.

Their eyes, like the eyes of the sellers, express a feeling of bitterness – the latter because they are suddenly unemployed, and are left to lie around or sit on benches under the shades.

A lonely, hungry, cat lazily walks around and looks for a few corpses of chicks or pigeons.

This situation began when the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) announced on February 27 that the deadly H5N1 subtype of avian flu had arrived in birds in Niger, one of the world’s poorest countries.

Since first being confirmed in Hong Kong in 1997, H5N1 avian flu has led to the death of hundreds of millions of wild and domestic birds in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. H5N1 has also produced 175 known human cases leading to 96 deaths in seven Asian and Middle Eastern countries.

There is some concern that H5N1 could develop the ability to transmit easily between humans and cause a global influenza pandemic. However, H5N1 has not reached that level and remains largely an animal health problem. Disease experts have warned for years that another influenza pandemic would strike the world, but it is unknown when the next pandemic will occur, how deadly it will be, or whether H5N1 or another influenza subtype will cause it.

The first African cases of H5N1 in birds were confirmed in Nigeria on February 8 and as feared, it soon spread across the northern border to Niger and has since had a major impact on Nigerien poultry markets and poultry farmers.

“Nobody is interested in us now - as if we are contagious,” said Moutari Alassan, president of poultry sellers of Maradi. Apparently happy to have someone listen to him, Moutari starts to tell me the various phases of “this strange disease.”
He says: “The governor held a meeting with us and breeding animal agents. Then, one minister informed us about the outbreak of the disease in Niger and the prohibition against buying or selling poultry in or out of Maradi. It is difficult to abide by. There are 400 or 500 of us here and at Kadiro market doing business to earn a living. Maradi alone can’t provide us with poultry.”

Moutari is, on his own, an illustration of the distress so many in this trade are feeling because of avian flu.

At 39, Moutari has been selling poultry for 30 years. He has never undertaken earned money any other way. Year in and year out, he has been able to build a local empire. The network of his suppliers covers more than 40 villages and ten markets. He hires about 20 people, full time. He owns severall grill rooms in the various districts of Maradi.

“I used to sell up to 500 chickens a day, but I hardly sell ten these days. I have two wives and thirteen children to feed. I told a journalist yesterday that he should alert the human rights organisations on our situation for we are heading towards a tragedy. The poultry salesmen are going to descend into crime, endangering the lives of consumers and exposing themselves to the rigour of the laws.

Only yesterday, hens were, for example, seized and killed by the gendarmes (police) and a local counsellor at the market of Dan-Dadi and no compensation was made. And these things are just beginning because the absence of supply is leading to an increase in poultry prices. It’s a dilemma.” While Moutari talks to me, a cart carrying fifteen guinea fowl arrives from a neighboring village. He is a supplier. I leave them bargaining, fully aware that educating people cannot on its own win the fight against bird flu.

Africa has a large poultry industry, with 1.1 billion chickens.  CARE is concerned with the economic impact of avian flu on people who rely on poultry for their livelihoods, like Moutari.  CARE is developing programs to help curb the economic impact of avian flu on the poor or others who may fall into poverty if they lose their income from the decline in poultry markets worldwide.  CARE is also working with governments to help them prepare for and contain avian flu at the source.

That source, in many cases, is someone’s backyard. It’s common for families in Africa to keep a few chickens as a form of savings or income, or to help maintain protein levels in their diet.  Many of the human cases of H5N1 have occurred in households that have small backyard flocks and a significant number of cases have occurred in children who take care of or play with their chickens. In an effort to combat avian flu, CARE is           facilitating the spread of information among all concerned parties in Niger.  CARE staff participates in national avian flu conferences and work with local prevention and management committees.

by Niandou Ibrahim, CARE Niger