Food and Agriculture Minister, Fifi Kwetey, Wednesday observed that the high rate of chicken imports in the country has seen a sharp decline due to pragmatic measures being pursued by the government to resource the local poultry industry.
According to him, Ghana in 2013 recorded 58,999 metric tons of chicken imports from a high of 86,373 metric tons in 2012, representing a reduction of 27,373 metric tons.
The feat, he noted, was achieved through the promotion of maize and soya production, subsidized maize sales to poultry farmers by Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) and the government Waiver Policy on agricultural inputs including animal feeds imported in the country.
The Food and Agriculture Minister’s comments was in response to a question posed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Nsuta-Kwamang Beposo in parliament, who sought to inquire from him the status of the Broiler Project which was started in September 2014.
Broiler Revitalization Project
In July 2014, the Government of Ghana launched the Ghana Broiler Revitalization Project, which is aimed at strengthening the local poultry industry by increasing production and progressively reducing imports.
The program was launched against the backdrop of excessive imports of frozen chicken into the country which was a source of great concern to the government, industry players and the general public.
The initiative was meant to provide support for identified medium and large scale local commercial poultry farmers to produce 30,000 metric tons of processed chicken for the Ghanaian market in the short term (2014 – 2016).
It was also meant to leverage public and private funds for the establishment of three modern poultry processing and cold storage facilities in the three regions of high poultry production in the country (Greater Accra, Brong-Ahafo and Ashanti Regions) in the medium term (2015 – 2018).
Furthermore, the project was aimed at making Ghana a net exporter of processed poultry to the West African sub region in the long-term (by 2020).
Status of the project
Mr. Kwetey highlighting on the status of the project told members at the plenary that out of the planned one million production and processing of birds, 650,000 was realized.
The first production and processing, he noted, ended in January 2015.
“The pilot was limited to Ashanti Region because the only two commercial poultry processing plants in Ghana currently are located in Kumasi: Darko Farms; Asamoah and Yamoah Farms; and lately Gonja Meat factory”, he explained.
He added “as we speak, almost all the processed chicken, approximately 1000 metric tons, has been sold out”.
To further strengthen the local poultry industry, the Food and Agriculture Minister said a land has been acquired at Duayaw Nkwanta in the Brong Ahafo Region for the installation of a 5,000 bird per hour capacity poultry processing plant, which is expected to kick off in about six months time.
KFC signs pact with Darko Farms
Mr. Kwetey said Darko Farms has entered into an agreement with Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC Ghana) to expand and refurbish its old processing plant to process 32,000 birds per day.
“The agreement provides that KFC will purchase all its local poultry requirement from the plant.”
By: Stephen Odoi-Larbi/Kasapafmonline.com/Ghana
