The first batch of broiler fowls reared under the West Africa Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) are now ready for sale and consumption.
The programme, aimed at boosting local poultry production, is run under the ‘FSRP Poultry Intensification Scheme’ which commenced in June this year under MOFA’s auspices.
The birds, about 120,000, reached maturity at seven weeks old with an average live weight of between 2.9 and 3 kilos and are set to be processed into whole chickens and cut parts for packaging and marketing.
A statement issued by the FDRP in Accra yesterday said their weight surpasses the typical requirements for fast-food chains like KFC and Papaye, which usually demand dressed chickens weighing between 1.1 and 1.3 kg at four to five weeks old.
“Consumers can obtain these homegrown, hygienically processed, fresh, and nutritious broiler chickens in malls, restaurants, and processing facilities throughout the country,” it said.
The fowls were reared in the Ashanti Region at Rockland Farms (producers of Akoko Tasty Chicken), Asamoah and Yamoah Farms (producers of Gold Birds), Darko Farms (producers of Darko Farms Chicken), and Boris B Farms (producers of Boris B Chicken).
The statement said the FSRP Monitoring team, including officials from the Animal Production Directorate (APD), Veterinary Services Department (VSD), and FSRP, visited the poultry farms and processing facilities in the Ashanti Region.
It said they assessed adherence to industrial standards such as feed quality, vaccinations, biosecurity, required weights, and general bird healthcare.
At Rockland Farms, officials observed semi-automated processing methods, while Darko Farms and Asamoah and Yamoah Farms demonstrated their fully automated processing methods, including slaughtering, dressing, cutting, packaging, blast freezing, and transportation.
The ongoing FSRP Poultry Intensification Scheme has also been introduced in the Eastern Region (with Fredna Farms), Central Region (with Judahson Farms), and Greater Accra Region (with Pap Farms).
The statement said the Anchor farmers in Bono and other regions are expected to join the scheme next month.
In an interview with the Ghanaian Times, Project Coordinator, Osei Owusu Agyeman stated that 22 beneficiaries were selected from 100 applicants across the five beneficiary regions: Central, Greater Accra, Eastern, Volta, Ashanti, and Bono.
He said the government’s role was assisting the private sector with marketing, providing chicks, feed, and support to ensure the poultry value chain’s efficiency and sustainability.
An official of the Animal Production Directorate, Dr Abdul Razak Okine, said that while significant progress has been made, it was too early to push for registration and importation bans on poultry, saying, “There’s still a lot of work to be done” to achieve national self-sufficiency.
The MOFA-FSRP Poultry Intensification Scheme is being implemented in phases with World Bank funding, providing beneficiaries with about 160,000 day-old chicks, 180,000 kilograms of feed, and vaccines.
Beneficiaries would also receive training in modern practices and climate-smart technologies and access matching grants for equipment, post-production processing, and cold storage.
The scheme aims to produce approximately two million broiler birds annually under a $12.5 million World Bank facility, supporting 18 commercial anchor farmers and their outgrowers to produce, process, and market two million birds annually over the next three years.
The West Africa Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP), a World Bank-funded initiative promoted by ECOWAS, aims to strengthen food system risk management, improve agricultural sustainability, and harmonize agricultural markets in West Africa.
Participating countries include Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sierra Leone, and Senegal. In Ghana, FSRP focuses on the intensified production, marketing, and consumption of rice, maize, broiler poultry, soybeans, and tomatoes
BY TIMES REPORTER
