Read in
Aimed to revamp the industry and position it to curb recent imports, the Ghanaian government will invest some US$541 million to improve the poultry industry.
The chief director at the country’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Robert Ankobia, told the B&FT that the investment is a step closer to achieving self-sufficiency in poultry meat products.
The investment aims to expand domestic production from the current 50,000 mt per year to an envisaged 450,000 tonnes, and to increase the domestic poultry sector’s value from the existing US$62 million to US$562 million, according to Ankobia.A study conducted by the University of Bonn and published in the journal Food Security takes a closer look at the effects of European chicken exports to Ghana.
The breakdown of the investment is as follows:
- US$20 million on technical assistance programmes in animal husbandry and health
- US$69 million on the expansion and upgrading of feed mills
- US$438 million to enhance access to finance and cost-sharing support for private investment in hatcheries and production expansion
- US$14.8 million aims to promote the expansion of SME processing in the areas of slaughtering and packaging.
Food security and self-sufficiency
With a focus on food security, Ankobia noted that the plans that have been set out to boost the local poultry sector form part of one of the country’s goals to achieve self-sufficiency and agrifood transformation. Other commodities in the spotlight were rice and soybeans, as was highlighted at the recent Dakar 2 Summit.
Chicken dumping
The Ghana National Poultry Farmers Association stressed that while the country’s poultry sector is on the verge of collapse, the country receives nearly 600,000 mt of frozen chicken valued at US$600 million every year.