The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, has defended the implementation of the Nkoko Nkitinkiti programme, stating that the programme remains on course despite criticisms.

He said the initiative, which is aimed at reducing the country’s high chicken import bill, had so far recorded significant success.

“The Nkoko Nkitinkiti project has been a huge success so far and anybody who is following will attest to that,” Mr Opoku told The Ghanaian Times in an interview in Accra yesterday.

Mr Opoku, who is also the Member of Parliament for Asunafo South, said the impact of the programme was evident in the declining prices of poultry and poultry products across the country.

The initiative has, however, come under scrutiny following his appearance before a Parliamentary Committee a fortnight ago, where he indicated that some beneficiaries had consumed the birds instead of rearing them for commercial production.

But the Minister said his comments had been misconstrued for political purposes.

He explained that although the programme was designed to provide livelihoods for households, the ultimate purpose of rearing poultry was for consumption.

Mr Opoku maintained that evidence showed that the majority of beneficiaries were raising the birds for commercial purposes.

He attributed the current abundance of poultry in the country to the programme, noting that it had contributed to a reduction in the prices of locally produced chicken and a decline in imports.

“In 2024, a chicken was sold between GH¢250 and GH¢300. Today, after a year into the programme, a chicken now sells at GH¢100 and in some areas, you can get it at GH¢80. Is it that nobody invested in the space and out of the blue, chicken prices came down? It is as a result of the deliberate, calculated and intentional investment we are making in the sector that is generating that result.

“Over the last one year, there has been sustained glut in the supply of eggs in the country. That has not been the case before the implementation of the policy,” he said.

Mr Opoku said the reduction in the prices of poultry and poultry products was directly linked to government investment in the sector.

He argued that the fall in prices was driven by increased supply, which he attributed to the ‘Nkoko Nkitinkiti’ initiative.

Over the years, he said, poultry farmers had cited the high cost of feed as a major factor behind expensive products, adding that government interventions in that area were also helping to drive down prices.

He noted that thousands of households across the country had received six-week-old chicks under the programme, with many beneficiaries expanding their stock.

Mr Opoku dismissed claims that the initiative had failed, insisting that critics had not provided sufficient basis for that conclusion.

“Those who say the project has been a failure have not established any strong leg to come to that conclusion. They admitted that the birds have been raised but consumed. What they have forgotten is that birds are reared for consumption. Whether the beneficiaries sell or consume the birds, the ultimate is for consumption.

“So once we have been successful in raising the birds and they are being consumed, the project is a monumental success,” he said.

The Nkoko Nkitinkiti initiative is the flagship component of the poultry industry revitalisation programme under the government’s broader Feed Ghana programme and targets 60,000 households.