August 19, 2010

Ghana calls for ample support of poultry industry

Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, Member of Parliament (MP) for Dormaa-West, reminded the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to honour its promises to local poultry farmers in order to remove impediments in the way of players in the industry. He acknowledged the huge impact it was making on the economic lives of the people in the area and expressed his desire to help accelerate growth in the sector. He expressed appreciation for the establishment of new poultry farms in the two Dormaa districts and said given the needed support, the Dormaa Traditional Area alone should be capable of producing enough poultry products to meet Ghana's protein requirements.

Mr Agyemang-Manu said that with the bird flu scare, local poultry farmers needed favourable government policies that would enable them to bridge the price gap between imported and locally-produced poultry products. He mentioned occasional gluts coupled with price fluctuations and lack of processing facilities as some of the basic problems that needed to be resolved to enable the industry to flourish.

Municipal Chief Executive Vincent Oppong Asamoah hopes that a recent meeting between the Dormaa Poultry Farmers and the Minister of Food and Agriculture at Dormaa-Ahenkro would not only address most of the challenges in the industry but also open business opportunities for many farmers. He says that the poultry farmers were now coming together as one body to enable them to influence government policies to their advantage.