Local poultry farmers only produce five per cent of chicken consumed in the country with 95 per cent imported, an official has said.
Chairman of the Western Regional Farmers Association Napoleon Agyemang Oduro, who is also the National Vice Chairman for the National Farmers’ Association, said the situation has created a lot of problems for local producers, leaving some farms ideal.
Mr Agyemang Oduro made this known in an interview on Connect FM’s Asem Nyi Dzi Ka.
Chicken is a type of meat enjoyed and loved by many including the young and the old.
It is also the most common type of poultry in the world.
Ghanaians use chicken for all kinds of delicacies like fried rice, yam, cabbage stew and many more.
Early this year, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) upon a survey came out with a finding that Ghanaians consume more than two million locally-produced chickens, a total of two hundred metric tons every year.
Though this number may seem huge and portrays local producers as making great business out of it and helping in the economy of the country, the consumption rate raises a lot of concern.
Mr Agyemang Oduro said before Ghana accepted trade liberalisation in 1985, poultry farmers were feeding the citizens of the country and farmers were able to feed the entire population.
“People might think importation of chicken is much cheaper than ones produced here,” he said.
“The truth is that comparing the United State and Brazil who have been running the poultry business for centuries to Ghana; those two countries have a lot of advantages over us. Unlike Ghana, where premium is placed on the thigh of the chicken, they rather place it on the breast. And because of that, they don’t mind how much they pay for a full chicken there. And so after selling the breast at the premium price the rest of the chicken cost nothing and when we import them we think it is cheap.”
Asked what successive government has done to help increase production level of poultry both locally and nationally, Mr. Agyemang Oduro said that little has been done and the demand on the foreign produce will surely increase if nothing is done about it.
By Akosua Wiafe|Connect 97.1FM|3news.com|Ghana