Getting out of the poultry importation debacle

The government proposed in the 2015 Budget Statement that it was going to revamp broiler production in the country to help cut down the country’s imports of poultry products by 40 per cent. 

Before the budget statement, which was laid on November 19, last year, the Ministry of Trade and Industry explained that the project would target the production of five million broiler birds annually. Out of this, 15,000 birds were to be processed daily at three plants in the Ashanti and Grater Accra regions.

A total of GH¢14.76 million was to be used to support the programme and another of GH¢3.43 million used as grant to support project management and outgrower apprenticeship activities, the ministry explained.

Under the programme, 20 million broilers were to be produced and that would have translated into 60,000 metric tonnes (MT) of poultry meat. A successful execution of the programme would have saved the country some US$132 million, which is being used to import pou