Work on investment-driven poultry master plan starts
Stakeholders in the agricultural
sector have called for a bold, practical, and investment-driven national
poultry master plan to transform the industry and reduce the country’s heavy
reliance on imports.
Speaking at the Southern Zone edition of the
Ghana Poultry Master Plan Stakeholders’ Dialogue in Accra yesterday, the Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of Agri-Impact Limited, Dr Daniel Fahene Acquaye,
stressed the need to move beyond repetitive policy frameworks that often failed
to deliver meaningful results.
The
dialogue forms part of a nationwide process to develop a data-driven poultry
sector master plan to boost local production, enhance competitiveness and
create jobs.
The initiative is being led by the Animal Production Directorate of the
Ministry of Food and Agriculture in collaboration with Agri-Impact Limited and
the Mastercard Foundation under the Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and
Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) Programme.
Dr Acquaye expressed concern over Ghana’s
declining poultry self-sufficiency, noting that the country, which once
produced about 80 per cent of its poultry needs, now produces barely 10 per
cent, with imports accounting for nearly 90 per cent of consumption.
“How can we continue to import a product that
takes less than two months to produce?” he questioned, pointing to the untapped
potential within the local poultry industry.
He attributed the decline to
trade liberalisation and structural challenges, including high feed costs,
limited processing capacity, weak financing systems, and fragmentation across
the value chain.
He explained that the proposed poultry master
plan was being designed to address these bottlenecks holistically.
Poultry
The plan, he said, would go beyond production to
target key investment areas such as feed mills, hatcheries, breeder farms,
veterinary services, processing, and distribution.
He also highlighted the
importance of integrated financing, indicating that current systems often
supported only segments of the value chain, limiting efficiency and growth.
Dr Acquaye cautioned that although several
policies had been developed over the years, many had not translated into real
sector transformation, but expressed optimism that the new plan would
deliberately address entrenched structural challenges.
He outlined four priorities, namely tackling
systemic constraints, promoting practical and innovative solutions, attracting
public and private investment, and ensuring inclusivity, particularly for women
and vulnerable groups.
Challenges
Delivering the keynote address on behalf of the
Minister of Food and Agriculture, the Chief Technical Advisor to the minister,
Kwasi Etu-Bonde, acknowledged persistent challenges such as high feed costs,
limited access to quality day-old chicks, inadequate cold-chain infrastructure,
and fragmented markets.
He said that despite the government’s
interventions, Ghana had continued to experience a mismatch between domestic
supply and demand, leading to heavy poultry imports that strained the economy
and limited job creation.
Mr
Etu-Bonde said the national poultry master plan would provide a coordinated
framework aligning policy, investment, and implementation across the value
chain.
He highlighted interventions
under the poultry revitalisation agenda, including the “Poultry Farm-to-Table”
initiative, support for small and medium-scale farmers, and the Nkoko
Nketenkete programme for households.
He revealed that the government aimed to produce
about 12 million birds annually through these initiatives.
“Our goal is to move to a well-linked value
chain that can meet at least 50 per cent of national poultry demand within the
next three years,” he said.
Poultry
The Deputy Director of the Animal Production Directorate, Dr Abdul Razak Okine,
emphasised that stakeholder consultations were critical in shaping a practical
road map, adding that inputs from across the country would be consolidated into
a final master plan reflecting industry realities.
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