Govt to help reverse decline in poultry production

A Minister of State at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Dr Gyiele Nurah, has decried the rising level of poultry product importation into the country to the detriment of local production and called for a concerted effort to increase local production.

He said out of the national demand of about 750,000 tonnes, only 35,000 tonnes of broiler meat was produced in the country last year, while imports increased by 14,000 tonnes to reach 158,000 tonnes within the same period under review.

“Addressing this worrying trend does not depend on the poultry associations or the poultry farmers alone, while the government could not single-handedly drive the needed change.

“It will take the collective commitment of actors to increase productivity, promote profitability and drastically cut or eliminate the import of poultry and poultry products,” Dr Nurah said.

Poultry Value Chain Fair

Speaking at the Second Poultry Value Chain Fair (POVAV Fair 2018) in Sunyani last Wednesday, the minister of state expressed concern about the situation where demand for broiler meat kept increasing, while domestic supply remained stagnant, allowing imports to fill the gap.

Dr Nurah said the government was ready to promote and support strategic investments within the agricultural sector, including the poultry sector for its modernisation to deliver multiple benefits towards sustainable agricultural development that was inclusive of and empowered the smallholder farmer.

“While the government will roll out specific interventions to support the smallholder local poultry sector, the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme takes into account reducing the cost of feed inputs which form more than 60 per cent of poultry production costs,” he said.

Importation of frozen chicken

For his part, the President of the Ghana National Poultry Farmers Association, Mr Victor Oppong Adjei, said notwithstanding the fundamental attributes of the poultry industry to the economy, it appeared that little or no attention had been given to the industry by successive governments.

“The country’s economic policies have created opportunities for a large importation of frozen chicken from various origins which had virtually downplayed chicken production by local farmers and had thrown them out of business, leading to job losses and impoverishing the citizens,” he averred.

Netherlands Ambassador

The Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Ron Strikker, said chicken remained one of the most important sources of protein to Ghanaians with a national demand of about 175,000 tonnes a year.

He noted that production had not kept pace with demand because of the high cost of poultry feed, inadequate processing, inefficient feed management among other constraints.

In 2013, Ghana spent about $159 million to import poultry products.

Organisers

The two-day fair is being attended by poultry farmers across the country, producers of poultry feed and other players in the poultry industry. It seeks to create sustainable market linkages between the poultry value chain actors.

It was organised jointly by the Ghana Poultry Project (GPP), Assist Management in Poultry Layer Industry by Feed Strategy (AMPLIFIES) and the Ghana National Poultry Farmers Association (GNPFA) and supported by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Agrihouse Foundation, a non-governmental organisation with a special focus on changing and shaping the conversation around agriculture.