By FEMI AKINOLA
A research conducted in Tanzania’s poultry industry has revealed that chickens are raised on farms where antibiotics are heavily used.
The study conducted by Tanzania’s Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), revealed high levels of antibiotic use in chicken sold in Dar es Salam, the nation’s commercial city.
The report had it that across Tanzania and much of sub-Saharan Africa, poultry farmers rely on antibiotics to speed up the growth of chickens, to ensure they reached market size quickly.
Though this method is profitable to the poultry farmers, the report noted that it has a significant downside such as encouraging the development of drug-resistant bacteria, which could spread to humans through the food chain.
The implication of unchecked usage of antibiotics on chickens, according to the report, usually add to the global crisis of antimicrobal resistance (AMR).
When antibiotics are not taken as directed or used unnecessarily, bacteria can adapt and develop resistance, known as AMR, making future infections more difficult to treat. As antibiotics lose their effectiveness, our health is increasingly at risk.
Prof. Mecky Mamtee, a Microbiologist at MUHAS said, ” Nearly 95% of the samples we tested contined traces of tetracycline, a commonly used antibiotic. The misuse of antibiotics to promote chicken growth is a seriuos issue.”
Responding to the outcome of the study, a local poultry farmer, John Lusekelo whose farm was situated in the outskirt of Dar es Salam, said that the decision to use antibiotics on the chickens wasn’t an easy one.
According to him, chickens are a vital source of affordable protein for millions of people not only in Tanzania but the whole sub-Sahara Africa noting that the booming demand for poultry led farmers to adopt intensive farming methods. He added that the growing reliance on antibiotics comes at a high cost.
”Without antibiotics, we would lose too many chickens to disease,” Lukeselo explained. ”It is a tough business and people want cheap chicken quickly,” he emphasised.
Consequently, as poultry farmers in Tanzania and other sub-Africa nations rely on antibiotics to keep poultry healthy over expensives alternatives, consumer of these chickens will continue to face growing AMR health risks.