Ghana Invested US$ 541 Million in the Poultry Industry
In accordance with one of the main resolutions of the recently concluded Dakar I Summit in Senegal, the government of Ghana has promised to invest over US$541 million to enhance the poultry business.
The plan aims to revitalize the sector and put it in a position to reduce recent imports, which total more than US$600 million annually.
The effort, according to Robert Ankobia, chief director at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, who revealed it to B&FIT, is intended to attain self-sufficiency in poultry meat products by enhancing production, competitiveness, and value addition.
Thus, the investment will raise domestic output from the current 50,000 tonnes year to the anticipated 450,000 tonnes annually.
According to Mr. Ankobia, "The partnership is also intended to boost the value of the domestic poultry sector from the current USS62 million to US$562 million."
The MoFA reports that approximately US$20 million will be spent on technical assistance programs in animal husbandry and health; US$69 million will be spent on feed mill expansion and upgrading to reduce poultry feed costs; US$438 million will be used to improve access to finance and cost-sharing support for private investment in hatcheries and production expansion; and US$14.8 million will be used to promote programs to expand SME processing in slaughtering and packaging, among other things. stated Mr. Ankobia.
Prioritization of major sub-sectors having the greatest influence on food security is one of the compact's key aspects, along with crucial considerations for other commodities like rice and soybean.
The overall goal of the agreement is to reduce losses and increase output along the nation's food value chain.
Chicken worth more than US$600 million is regularly thrown onto the local market, according to the Ghana National Poultry Producers Association (GNPFA).
The association claimed that the occurrence has made matters worse for the nation's poultry industry, which is in danger of collapsing because there are no laws in place to prevent birds from being dumped.
Victor Oppong, the president of the Association, has previously stated that the nation receives roughly 600,000 metric tonnes of frozen chicken annually, worth US$600 million.
