The Minister for  Agriculture, Eric Opoku, has raised concerns over Ghana’s heavy reliance on  imported  poultry products, revealing that the country spends about $350 million annually to bring poultry products into the country.

According to him, the huge financial resources spent on importing poultry could instead be invested in strengthening the domestic poultry industry and expanding employment opportunities along the value chain.

Speaking on the future of poultry beyond the Nkoko Nkitinkiti project on Friday, July 17, Eric Opoku said the government’s goal is to increase local consumption of Ghanaian poultry products and reduce the country’s dependence on imported chicken through the Nkoko Nkitinkiti prgramme.

He noted that the continuous importation of poultry products has created jobs in other countries while limiting opportunities for Ghanaian farmers and young people.

“As we speak, on an annual basis, we spend $350 million United States dollars to import poultry products into Ghana. That huge amount of money is creating jobs in those countries at the expense and peril of the youth of our nation,” the Minister stated on Joynews

Mr. Opoku explained that the Nkoko Nkitinkiti initiative is part of government’s broader strategy to unlock the potential of the poultry sector through increased production, job creation, and value addition.

He added that after supporting households under the first phase of the project, the next phase will focus on medium-scale poultry producers to help them expand their operations.

“Some of them are able to do from 500 birds to about 3,000 birds. They need the capacity to expand, and it is the duty of government, as we pursue increased production, to give them that support to enable them expand,” he said.

The Minister further stressed that supporting local producers and encouraging the consumption of locally produced poultry will be critical to reducing Ghana’s reliance on imports and building a sustainable poultry industry.