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The government has unveiled the Nkoko Nketenkete household and backyard poultry production initiative to address the core of Ghana’s food security and inclusive growth agenda.
Under the initiative, a total of three million birds will be distributed across all 276 constituencies to benefit 60,000 households.
Each constituency is expected to receive 10,000 birds as part of the intervention.
Furthermore, each household participating in the initiative will receive 50 birds, in addition to feed support and technical guidance to ensure the sustainability of their projects.
Similarly, 50 anchor farmers have been selected and will be provided with housing, logistical and technical support for each of them to produce 80,000 birds, totalling four million birds, equivalent to 10,000 metric tonnes of chicken.
Launching the initiative at the Jubilee Park in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region yesterday, President John Dramani Mahama said the initiative was more than just a government intervention, but a national movement and a courageous step towards restoring food self-sufficiency.
He said the bold step was also to strengthen household resilience and foster sustainable livelihoods for thousands of Ghanaians, especially women, youth and vulnerable families across the country.
He described the initiative as a flagship element of the poultry industry revitalisation programme, which remained a key part of the broader Feed Ghana Programme, adding that “for far too long, Ghana’s poultry industry, which was once a lively contributor to rural incomes and national nutrition, faced structural bottlenecks”.
These bottlenecks, he said, included high feed costs, limited access to improved breeds, inadequate processing capacity and over-reliance on imports, insisting that in 2023 alone, Ghana spent over $350 million to import poultry products.
“We must, and we will, reverse this trend. The time has come for Ghana to reclaim her pride of producing, processing and consuming what we grow ourselves”, the President stated, and emphasised that under the Feed Ghana Programme, the government was executing a three-pronged strategy to restore the poultry value chain from the household level to the commercial scale.
He said through the food systems resilience programme, the government was supporting 500 small and medium-scale poultry farmers across all regions to produce three million birds to bridge the gap between large-scale farmers and community-based producers.
He added that the breeds, pullets and cockerels had been selected for their resilience, adaptability and high productivity under local conditions, and indicated that the government was fully committed to protecting the poultry industry.
President Mahama announced that in the coming days, he would cut the sod for work to begin on the construction of a modern poultry processing factory in Bechem in the Bono Region, with the procurement processes already underway.
Once operational, this facility will serve as a market for all small and medium-scale poultry producers in the Bono, Ashanti and Bono East regions, the President said, stressing that “our long-term target is to increase Ghana’s poultry sufficiency from 12 per cent today to over 75 per cent by 2028”.
He said key measures to be implemented towards achieving the target included access to improved breeds, affordable feed formulation, establishment of farmer service centres, and expansion of veterinary and animal health services, among others.
Touching on the recent food glut across the country, President Mahama mentioned the initial release of $100 million to the National Buffer Stock Company to purchase maize from farmers for safe-keeping and an additional $200 million more to buy maize and rice from the local farmers.
He said he had directed school feeding caterers to buy more eggs from the market to add them to the meals for pupils.
This directive, President Mahama said, was intended to enable the poultry farmers to earn some income and prevent their eggs from being wasted due to a lack of market.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, said Ghana was not an importer of poultry products until around 1997 and 1998, when the nation imported 4,000 tonnes of poultry.
He said the figure went up to 124,000 tonnes and 324,000 tonnes in 2004 and 2022.
Mr Opoku said, "Only 15,000 tonnes of the country’s poultry consumption are produced locally, representing 4.6 per cent, meaning over 95 per cent of the total tonnes are imported".
He said the continuous importation of chicken from abroad would rather create jobs for those nations, with its attendant consequences on the Ghanaian economy.
Citing India as an example, he said the implementation of backyard poultry production had increased their local poultry production to 37 per cent.
“Backyard poultry production is an essential tool for women's empowerment, increasing food production towards achieving food security," he said.
Making reference to an International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) survey, he indicated that every dollar invested in food production would yield a whopping $16 in returns.
Therefore, he said, the investment being done by the government in the roll-out of the Nkoko nketenkete programme would increase the country’s food production and improve the economy as well.
He advised Ghanaians to take advantage of the programme to increase local poultry production for national development, and further assured the nation that more beneficiaries would be registered for the programme.
The Asafohene, Akyamfuor Asafo Boakye Agyemang-Bonsu, who represented the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, commended President Mahama for redeeming the promise he made during the campaign towards the last elections.
He indicated that the youth in the region were in need of jobs to better their lives, and expressed the hope that the initiative would provide decent jobs for many unemployed young men and women to improve their economic lives.
“We hope that this intervention will not just be a mere launch, but the necessary steps will be taken going forward to support the beneficiary households to increase local production,” he said.
In a welcome address, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr Frank Amoakohene, said it had become necessary for Ghanaians to revisit the household rearing of poultry to improve household income and nutrition.
He entreated Ghanaians to fully embrace the initiative, stressing that it had the potential to reduce the country’s poultry imports to the barest minimum.
