Artificial foods from the West and Asia that are a threat to local African commodities

Photo Credit: FAO

Genetically modified fish

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African farmers have for a very long time been complaining about how the importation of cheaper fish from China has caused the low patronage of locally produced ones.

Cheap Chinese tilapia and other ornamental fishes, besides infiltrating the local market have for some time now had consumers panicking because of substantiated reports of they being unwholesome and genetically modified. In Ghana, for instance, the outbreak of the deadly Tilapia virus forced the government to ban the importation of such fishes for six months which took effect on July 1.

In Kenya also, president Uhuru Kenyatta nearly sparked a trade war with China after he instructed the ultimate protection of local fish traders from an influx of cheap imported Chinese fish. Kenyan officials immediately imposed an importation ban on Chinese Tilapia which sells at about Sh250 ($2.46) per kilogram in the local market against the local Tilapia which sells at Sh400 ($3.94) per kilogram.