Local poultry sector needs support to grow

The nation relies heavily on imports to meet the soaring demand for chicken because the local market is unable to meet the ever-increasing demand for the product. And this has been so over the years.

Data available indicates that as of 2021, imports of chicken and other poultry products were above $300 million, funds that could have been channelled into other sectors of the economy.

In 2022, for instance, the total national consumption requirement for poultry was 324,047 metric tonnes (MT). However, local production was only 15,000MT, representing five per cent of the national requirement.

This is particularly unacceptable and a worrying trend because the country has an overwhelming potential to be self-sufficient in poultry production.

For some time now, the local poultry industry has struggled with the influx of foreign poultry products, ostensibly to fill the gap to meet the demand for chicken, which has become a delicacy in every Ghanaian home.

Our local poultry industry, undoubtedly, is faced with serious bottlenecks, making poultry farmers barely able to break even because of inherent production and post-production challenges.

Problems militating against the increasing production of poultry such as high cost of feed, unregulated and unstandardised hatchery operations, poor disease surveillance control and management systems, inappropriate infrastructural systems and inefficient management systems have been the bane of poultry farmers in the country.

This translates to a high cost of locally produced poultry products and meat compared to the cheap imported ones flooding our markets.

For instance, as of November 2024, the cost of a live bird weighing 2.8 kilogrammes (kg) was GH¢75, while a processed bird of 2.0kg (dressed-weight) currently sells at GH¢96.7 or GH¢49 per kg with the average cost of imported broiler poultry being GH¢40 per kg.

The Daily Graphic, like many health-conscious Ghanaians, believes the challenge has been the source of imported poultry and how healthy it is.

The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) insists and, indeed, best practices require that poultry products be transported from the processing facility to retail shops under specified temperatures.

Also, the GSA stipulates cold storage of four degrees Celsius for poultry products for a maximum of seven days and -18 degrees Celsius for frozen poultry products, for a maximum of nine months.

Again, the paper is worried about the imported poultry in terms of the health implications because those importing the poultry products are unable to tell whether they are stored according to the stipulated frozen standard and also whether they are kept within an acceptable time frame at the cold store.

Truth is, it is not so, it means by the time the poultry products are imported they may be unwholesome for human consumption.

Earlier this week, we carried a story about the World Bank's West Africa Food System Resilience Project (FSRP) under the Government of Ghana injecting $12 million into the poultry industry.

The move by the World Bank is refreshing news not only for local poultry farmers but Ghanaians as a whole because it can potentially lead to a boost in poultry production in the country.

This will translate into a reduction of the cost of the product to enable the ordinary Ghanaian to afford it.

The Daily Graphic commends the World Bank for this gesture and urges the government to focus more on the local poultry sector, by providing the right environment to enable the sector to grow and meet the protein requirements of Ghanaians.

The local poultry sector needs support to grow and it is the responsibility of duty bearers to facilitate the growth of the sector. Ghanaians should also be committed to consuming locally produced poultry rather than the imported ones.

What we need to know is that each time a Ghanaian bites an imported chicken, he clips the wings of the local poultry industry.

Let’s help grow our local poultry industry for cheaper and healthier meat. This will not only ensure a healthy populace but will also boost the economy.