Winneba (C/R), July 24, GNA - Mr Ernest Debrah, Minister of Food and Agriculture, has reassured the nation that poultry products in the country are free from the Avian Flu disease.

He has, therefore, reiterated the call on Ghanaians to discard the negative perception about local birds and eggs and patronise them to revive the poultry industry.

Mr Debrah also appealed to various electronic and print media organisations in the country to embark on an intensive and continuous education on the need for the citizenry to revive their interest in the eating of locally produced birds and eggs to renew the economic power of the poultry farmers in the country.

These were contained in a speech read on his behalf by Madam Hanna Nyamekye, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, at a sensitisation forum organised by members of Odebikese Poultry Farmers Association at Winneba on Monday.

The function was attended by school children; students of the Winneba Community Health Nurses Training School; chiefs, assembly members and heads of decentralised departments, corporations, agencies and institutions.

He said the Avian flu scare had dealt a severe economic blow to the poultry industry in Ghana due to the wide publicity given to the disease by both foreign and local media organisations when the disease first broke out in certain parts of the world and later in some African countries, including some West African countries.

Mr Debrah said the enormous economic problems posed by the Avian Flu to the poultry industry called for intensive education at all fronts of national endeavour to rekindle the interest of the citizenry and to disabuse their minds of the negative perception about local poultry products so that they would start eating locally produced birds and eggs without fear.

He, however, advised the public to always ensure that poultry products they patronised were cooked very well before consuming them. Mr Debrah praised the Awutu-Effutu-Senya District Assembly and the leaders of the Odebikese Poultry Farmers Association in Winneba for being the first district to organise avian flu district forum to educate the people on the disease.

Similar messages came from the Deputy Minister of Health and MP for Effutu, Mr Samuel Kofi Owusu-Agyei; Mr Attoh Arthur, Central Regional Minister.

Mr Owusu-Agyei recalled recent moves initiated by the Government to seize more than 2,000 birds, which were being smuggled from Burkina Faso to Ghana, and advised Ghanaians to disabuse their minds of the negative perception some people held on the bird flu menace.

The Deputy Minister commended teachers and school children, who attended the function, and charged them to spread the good message on the country's position on the avian flu menace.

Mr Solomon. K. Abban-Quaye, District Chief Executive, appealed to churches, educational institutions and other organised groups in the District to join the national crusade geared towards reviving the poultry industry.

He announced that a committee had been set up to continue with the education on the disease and to counsel people on the symptoms of the disease and to report to the appropriate authorities if they detected any in their community or on their poultry farms.