...urges authorities to enforce stringent regulatory measures

By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – FOLLOWING poor regulatory practices in various sectors of the economy including agriculture and livestock to safeguard the lives of Nigerians, an environmental health specialist and consultant, Anison Environmental Services Limited, Dr Aniefiok Moses, yesterday, warned that the indiscriminate and unregulated setting up of poultry farms at backyards and other places will trigger unprecedented disease outbreaks if allowed to continue.

Moses who expressed deep concern over the unprofessional operations of poultry farm owners said are endangering the lives of Nigerians traceable to past outbreaks of diseases from poultry farms.

He also highlighted that these outbreaks continued to 2022 and some cases were reported even in Rivers state while in January 2025, new HPAI H5N1 cases were reported in Kano, Katsina, and Plateau states, with the World Health Organization, WHO, stepping in to support control efforts to prevent human transmission.

Diseases that can be transmitted from birds to man include Avian flu, Newcastle disease, Fowl Pox, Gumboro disease, Avian encephalmelitis, Pollorum disease, Avian mycoplasmosis, Infectious coryza, Aspergillosis, Coccidiosis, Syngamosis, among others.

According to him, this raises serious concern for food safety and public health because the mode of transmission of animal diseases to humans has taken disturbing dimension in the past few years.

He said: “In Nigeria, the need to increase protein intake couple with the ban on importation of frozen food has led to emergence of backyard poultry farms everywhere.

“These farms are sited indiscriminately within residential and built-up areas without recourse to health, safety and the aesthetic of the environment.

“Lack of extant regulation has encouraged this practice to exist in our society as normal and as if it does not matter how such trade should be practiced. The need to increase food production to tackle food insecurity is apparent in every society including improved protein uptake.

“The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in 2020 noted that in recent times, production of chickens as a source of protein has witnessed massive growth over the last 50 years.

“The organization stated that most of poultry production were intensive-based in cities, while few free-range holdings were in the country-side and villages.

“In 2022, researchers led by Ajala Abiodun found out that the poultry sub-sector accounted for more than 50% of total livestock production in Nigeria, while other researcher led by Jacob H. Tsado of Federal University of Technology, Minna, in 2017 noted that poultry dominated the livestock production and accounted for 25% of local meat production in the country.

“Despite these glowing contribution of the sector to our national food security, the sector remain largely unregulated when it comes to siting of poultry farms.

“A recent study conducted in Kubwa in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, revealed that as much as 44% poultry farms were sited within 10 metres of residential houses while 19% were within 50 metres.

“Sadly, none of the farms visited within the study area met the minimal standard distance of 500 metres set by countries like India and Indonesia.

“Siting poultry farms within proximal radius of at least 500 metres to any residential building has been noted to be inimical to the health well-being of inhabitants of such residential areas.

“The rearing of poultry either for meat or egg comes with different health risk. The prevalence of emerging and reemerging diseases from animals to humans has been one of the greatest challenges to global health and food security today.

“Indeed, diseases of animal’s origin remain a serious concern to public health experts and experts in the livestock subsector due to economic losses they cause and health emergency when transmitted to humans.

“Poor biosafety measures, indiscriminate location of live bird markets, the presence of migratory wild birds and movement of birds between regions were considered major factors in the spread and persistence of the virus in Nigeria, which also sustained those outbreaks.

“There other factors that may contribute to the spread of bird-related infections within the bird population and from birds to human.”

He also revealed that in the study conducted in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, farmers were not conscious of the possibility of spread of poultry related zoonotic infections from birds to human, which is an indication that there is a gap in biosecurity knowledge and practices.

Some of the dangerous trends of the gap include; Poor knowledge of biosecurity measure – consequently, farm workers, poultry product vendors, transporters of birds, backyard poultry farmers, meat processors and consumers were at higher risk of contracting zoonotic infections.

Poor personal and environmental hygiene within and around poultry farms, non-use of Personal Protective Equipment, PPE, poor hand washing practices, and poor poultry waste management practices.

The poor handling of poultry waste is of serious public health concern, which according to him (Moses), “In the study conducted in Kubwa – FCT, it was observed that poultry waste was not regularly evacuated and properly disposed.

“In most of the farms visited, bird droppings were seen littering everywhere, accumulating for days or even weeks, being stored in bags for sale as manure and being burned in the open.

“These poor handling of poultry waste emits foul odor, pollutes the environment and causes nasal irritation. This contaminated air contain respiratory viruses, E-coli, Salmonella enteritidis, and may also cause Mycoplamosis in bird or walking pneumonia in human. This disease often presents with symptoms like sneezing, runny nose, breathing difficulties, conjunctivitis, and lameness.

“Poultry waste is confirmed to be contributing to climate change by emitting greenhouse gases, such as nitrous oxide, CO2 , and CH4 , through microbial activity and changes in temperature, pH, moisture, and oxygen concentrations.

“This become acute when the waste is burned in the open. These air pollutants could have a significant negative impact on both human and animal health, and may lead to a variety of illnesses like nose discomfort, breathing difficulties, and coughing; while long-term exposure may lead to allergic reactions and chronic diseases.”

However, he (Moses) urged relevant regulatory agencies to act proactively and swiftly to tackle the menace.

“Having considered all these nuisances and negative health implications of siting poultry farms within residential areas, it is time for government to rise to the challenge and set a national standard to regulate the establishment and management of poultry farms in Nigeria.

“The Federal Ministries of Health, Livestock Development, Environment, working with agencies like Environmental Health Council of Nigeria, EHCON, Nigerian Institute of Animal Science, NIAS, National Environmental Standard Regulation and Enforcement Agency, NESREA, and Standard Organization of Nigeria, SON, should as a matter of urgent public importance, convene a stakeholders meeting to: set up a national standard for minimum distance for poultry farms for built-up environment.

“Establish minimum biosafety standard necessary for poultry farms in Nigeria, establish a minimum level of knowledge poultry farmers are expected to possess to ensure the maintenance of minimum safety and biosecurity in poultry farms”, he said.

He also counseled that, “In the meantime, EHCON in collaboration with NIAS should develop appropriate messages for public education of poultry farmers of the health and environmental consequences of their trade, while Environmental Health Officers should step up sanitary inspection of premises to assist in abating nuisances including the fallout from backyard poultry farms in our environment.”