President John Dramani Mahama has announced an ambitious plan to increase Ghana’s poultry self-sufficiency from the current 12 per cent to more than 75 per cent by 2028, as part of government’s renewed drive to achieve food security and reduce dependence on imports.
He made the announcement at the launch of the ‘Nkoko Nketenkete’ Poultry Project held at the Jubilee Park in Kumasi, describing the initiative as a bold step toward restoring the country’s food sovereignty and promoting inclusive economic growth.
The President said the project, which forms part of the broader Feed Ghana Programme, is designed to empower households, smallholder farmers, and commercial producers to boost local poultry production across all constituencies.
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Under the initiative, government will distribute 10,000 day-old chicks to every constituency, benefiting about 60,000 households nationwide.
Each household will receive 50 birds, feed, and technical support to promote sustainable backyard poultry farming.
“This initiative is more than just a government intervention.
It is a national movement, a courageous step toward restoring food self-sufficiency, strengthening household resilience, and creating sustainable livelihoods for women, youth, and vulnerable families,” President Mahama stated.
He said the poultry industry, which once contributed significantly to rural incomes and national nutrition, had suffered setbacks due to high feed costs, limited access to improved breeds, inadequate processing capacity, and overreliance on imports.
“In 2023 alone, Ghana spent over 350 million dollars importing poultry products, a drain on our foreign exchange and a missed opportunity for our farmers and entrepreneurs.
We must and we will reverse this trend,” he emphasized.
To achieve this, the government is implementing a three-pronged strategy under the Feed Ghana Programme to restore the poultry value chain from the household to the commercial scale.
These include the Poultry Farm-to-Table Project, the Anchor Farmers and Outgrower Support Scheme, and the Nkoko Nketenkete Poultry Initiative, which focuses on backyard and household-level production.
President Mahama disclosed that 50 anchor farmers would each receive 80,000 birds, logistics, and technical support to produce a total of four million birds, while another 500 small and medium-scale poultry farmers across the country would produce an additional three million birds under the Food Systems Resilience Programme.
He further announced plans to establish a modern poultry processing factory at Bechem in the Ahafo Region, to serve as a ready market for producers in the Bono, Bono East, and Ashanti regions.
“The procurement process is underway, and once operational, the facility will link farmers directly to processors, ensuring value addition and market stability,” the President noted.
He reaffirmed government’s commitment to transforming the agricultural sector into a driver of economic growth and job creation, urging all stakeholders to support the initiative.
“With the Nkoko Nketenkete project, we are laying the foundation for a future where Ghana produces, processes, and consumes what it grows,” President Mahama added.
GNA
