January 18, 2023

Prices of poultry feed in Ghana up 300% in past two years

Victor Oppong Adjei, president of the Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers, said prices of poultry feed in the country have increased by 300% over the past two years, GhanaWeb reported.

He said this is because prices of the main ingredients of poultry feed, wheat bran, soybean, and maize, have all gone up.

Oppong Adjei said wheat bran costs GHS 15 (~US$1.25; GHS 1 = US$0.083) in 2020, but last year costs GHS 50 (~US$4.17). Soybean costs GHS 150 (~US$12.51) per kg in 2022, but now has gone up to GHS 400 (~US$33.35) per kg in 2022. Maize prices have increased 60%.

He said 70% of poultry farms in Ghana are close to shutting down due to rising feed prices, adding that there has been no government assistance for the farmers.

The regions of Bono and Ashanti Regions are primarily where poultry farms are located. Due to the over 300% increase in feed prices, they are all facing the same problem.

Oppong Adjei said one farmer in Bono who had a poultry farm with a 300,000 bird capacity, had sold all of his birds and now only has 50,000 left. He also said another farmer in the eastern region with 32,000 capacity, only has 700 birds right now.

-      GhanaWeb