Okere District Assembly in the Eastern region has commenced processes to update data on poultry production and frozen food suppliers in the district.
The data-driving activity is being spearheaded by the District’s Center for Agriculture, Commerce and Technology (DCACT)
The District Chief Executive, Kenneth Daniel Addo said the move is to enable the assembly to have” a comprehensive and all-inclusive as well as citizenship participation in helping to generate this significant data update”.
This he says will help inform the government’s continuing effort to revive the poultry industry.
The poultry industry in Ghana is facing turbulence following the impact of COVID-19, the influenza flu that killed hundreds of thousands of birds.
More devastating are the steeply rising prices and shortages of feed ingredients.
The trend of poultry farms folding up operations in Ghana is frustrating the country’s plan to increase its self-sufficiency in chicken production.
Over $600 million worth of chicken is dumped onto the Ghanaian market annually compounding the woes of Ghana’s poultry industry which is on the verge of collapse.
Speaking at a hearing over allegations of dumping of chicken into the country by the Ghana International Trade Commission, the National Chairman of the Poultry Farmers Association, Victor Oppong, expressed worry that local players may be forced out of business.
“On an annual basis, we receive 600,000 metric tonnes of frozen chicken which is made up of 569 million birds valued at $600 million. We are saying that the import is collapsing the poultry industry as well as putting more pressure on the local currency,” he said.
“It means, we have to look for more than $600 million to buy poultry products, while we can make arrangements to get them locally,” he added.
Source: Mybrytnewsroom.com/Obed Ansah
