POULTRY INDUSTRY REFORM SUFFERS

Hannah Bissiw, Deputy Minister of Agriculture

Two years ago, the  government launched the Ghana Broiler Revitalization Project to boost local capacity in the production, processing and marketing of broiler.

But Poultry farmers say they are yet to feel the benefits.

According to the Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers, this is because there have been no legislative instrument to back the project.

So the project with such laudable goals as developing the poultry industry along the poultry value chain and ensuring that production farms, input suppliers, hatcheries, feed mills, veterinary services producers, processors, marketers and consumers all played their roles to ensure self-sufficiency, has so far moved only a few steps  from the paper it was written on.

Yet the delay in moving forward is costing the country a lot. Between2010 and 2012 Ghana imported approximately 200,000 metric tonnes of Chicken valued at $200 million.

The country remains deficient in meat and milk requirement as the present levels of livestock and poultry production is inadequate to meet the animal protein needs of the population.

 Making these facts public at an advocacy forum, the vice President of Ghana Poultry Association, Mr Napoleon Oduro, said the country had pieces of consultative documents without a clear-cut policy for the industry and called for a legislative instrument to protect the sector.

He explained that the situation had resulted in Ghana becoming a net importer of frozen meat of which poultry constituted the highest proportion.

 He said the Association was calling for governments support to expand the production of broilers locally since imported ones were taking over the market.

Mr Oduroexplained that the lack of production materials and high cost of production had raised the prices of local broilers, making the imported ones gain a larger market share due to their comparatively low prices. 

“The Ghana National Association of poultry farmers was calling for the implementation of government policy which mandates importers to patronise 40 percent of local poultry products while reserving the right to import 60 percent of foreign ones “he added.

 Dr Anthony Akunzule, deputy director, Veterinary services of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture said the target of the project was to produce 30,00 metric tonnes of the broiler meat with an expected increase to 60,000 metric tonnes by 2016.

 These targets, he said, would progressively reduce Ghana’s meat import burden to 40 percent by 2016, in line with MOFA’s national livestock strategy policy to increase the supply of meat, animals and dairy product from the current aggregate level of 30 percent to 40 percent of the national requirement by 2016.

 Dr Akunzule expressed the belief that increasing local livestock and poultry production in the country was the way forward in ensuring not only self- sufficiency in meat production, but also the creation of employment opportunity for the youth in poverty alleviation.

Mr Papa Kow Bartels, Director, logistics and value chain, of the  Ministry of Trade and Industry said the project would stem the current growing imports of poultry products, create employment, sustain the local poultry industry, guarantee food security and increase supply of animal protein.

He noted that the poultry industry was a private enterprise and as such it was imperative for the association to strategize new ways of reviving the industry

GNA

Editorial

Partisanship does not help in the fight against corruption

For whatever the actual facts are, corruption has become a very convenient tool to throw against political opponents.

There is little doubt about its negative effects even though there is not the same clarity as to what exactly falls under it and what does not.

Added to this opportunism is often associated with corruption accusations. This unfortunately makes the issue more complicated as supporting a call is not as simple as it should be.

Then there are various civil society bodies that should have occupied the position of neutral observers but they do not sit where should easily. Still they can be helpful to the fight against corruption if they make the methods for arriving at conclusions public.

One question that has not been properly answered is why national institutions cannot conduct their own tests or survey and point to areas in need of urgent attention and remedy.

We have had some attempts in the past by the African Peer Review Mechanism, APRM), Commission for human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the National Commission for Civic Education, (NCCE), but for some time now nothing has come from these bodies as far as the citizens’ experience with governance is concerned.

There will always be criticism from those who will not be happy with what these bodies bring out. Still, it is far preferable to build our own capacity for self assessment than to quarrel over assessments by external agencies.

Ultimately, there should be no compromise in efforts to build a better society, even if the road is rough and tortuous.