Govt moves to address poultry feed shortage
GOVERNMENT has assured of “bumper harvest” of staples for the production of poultry feed to address the shortage that hit the sector earlier this year.
According to a Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture in charge of livestock, Mohammed Hardi Tufeiru, the issue of poultry feed is of a great concern to the government because the sector is to contribute its maximum quota to the economy.
Mr Tufeiru gave this assurance in Accra yesterday at a stakeholders’ forum on the Nationwide Poultry Production, Processing and Packaging project.
The poultry sector was hit by what poultry farmers said was the “unprecedented” shortage of feed following the scarcity of raw materials for its production for their birds across the country.
To address this, Mr Tufeiru, also the Member of Parliament for Nanton, said large tracts of land under cultivation of staples, especially soya beans and maize, in the northern part of the country would help address the perennial shortage of poultry feed in the country.
“If you go to the North, the kind of acreages [of land] that has been done and expanded to produce maize and soya….I can assure you that we are going to have bumper harvest this year and the years to come so that as far as steady supply of staples is concerned, there is nothing to worry about,” he stated.
The project seeks to bring together producers, processors and marketers of poultry and poultry products under one umbrella and to increase production so as to harness the economic potential of the sector.
The poultry subsector of the country’s agricultural space over the years, he observed, had contributed significantly to the economy, a reason why the current regime introduced the Rearing for Food and Jobs programme to harness maximum benefits.
Government, he said, would commit everything in support of the project to ensure that it augments already running interventions in the poultry sector.
A Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr John Kumah, said the project would address the country’s reliance on imported chicken and other food products to feed the population.
For the year 2021, he said the government budgeted US$2 billion for food importation, including poultry products, an amount could have been used in the country if it were producing enough food for the people.
“We want to revitalise the economy, coming out of COVID-19 and one of the key challenges that we are facing is how we can create jobs for our young people. In our attempt to create jobs, we must feed the nation with proper protein and that is why we are focused on the poultry sector as one of the areas where we can create jobs whilst feeding the people,” he said.
He said should the project materialise, it would be a big boost to Ghana to export to the African market, taking advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.
Ton Van de Ven of Vencomatics, a Dutch firm which offers solutions to challenges with housing equipment, egg handling and climate control for any type of poultry house, said the project would be an opportunity for Ghana to reduce its reliance on importation of poultry products whilst helping industry players to create jobs.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
