The Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Accra Poultry Farmers Association (GAFFA), Ali Mohammed, has called on the government to use the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review to introduce long-term reforms for Ghana's poultry industry, saying existing interventions alone cannot solve the sector's challenges.

Speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show on Thursday, July 23, Mr Mohammed said he expects the government to review the implementation of the 'Nkoko Nkitinkiti' initiative and engage industry players before rolling out the next phases of the programme.

"We expect to see a policy review on the 'Nkoko Nkitinkiti' thing," he said. "We expect the policymakers to engage and consider the first phase as the basis. We expect the second phase and the third phase that they intend to roll out to involve more engagement and better planning."

While welcoming the initiative, Mr Mohammed argued that it should be seen as only one part of a broader strategy to revive the poultry sector.

"'Nkoko Nkitinkiti', as I said on Newsfile, actually cannot solve the poultry industry's problem. It's one of the mitigating factors, but solving the industry's problems goes beyond the 'Nkoko Nkitinkiti'"

According to him, the poultry industry requires a long-term development plan extending beyond a decade.

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"The poultry industry should have about a 10-year-plus plan laid out," he said.

Mr Mohammed identified the high cost of poultry feed as the industry's biggest obstacle, noting that feed accounts for nearly 80 per cent of production costs.

"Feeding costs take almost 80%," he said.

He urged the government to increase local production of maize and soya, the two main ingredients used in poultry feed, warning that without addressing this issue, the sector would continue to struggle.

"I told the Feed Ghana Coordinator that if we don't do anything about the local production of soya and maize, which are the major components of poultry feed, we can never succeed. Take it from me."

He said government policies should not be developed in isolation but should recognise the close relationship between crop production and the poultry industry.

"When you are designing a policy, you don't design a policy in silos. You design a policy as a holistic thing for all the sectors."

Mr Mohammed explained that although maize and soya are also consumed by households, the poultry industry requires raw materials that meet strict quality standards.

"It's not every maize that the poultry industry accepts. The maize produced must meet certain thresholds," he said, adding that farmers must also meet safety standards before their produce can be used in feed production.

"If we engage our local farmers, the synergy can be greater than what we are doing currently."

Mr Mohammed disclosed that most of the maize and soya used by poultry farmers in Ghana are imported because locally produced crops often fail to meet industry standards.

"The majority of the maize that we use is imported maize," he said.

"The soya that we use in the poultry industry is imported. Almost 80% of the soya that we use is not local."

He explained that strict quality testing is carried out before maize is processed into poultry feed.

"Sometimes the tests that we do before the maize passes through the mill – we don't even do those for household consumption."

Mr Mohammed urged the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to create stronger links between local maize and soya producers and poultry feed manufacturers.

"What I expect the Agriculture Ministry to do is to develop the linkage between our local soya producers, our local maize producers and the industry that consumes them."

He said that the poultry sector has significant processing capacity and consumes large volumes of grain each year.

He said GAFFA already operates a feed mill and is constructing another, while several other major millers are also operating across the country.

"Our annual consumption of maize, even considering ourselves among the smaller millers, is no less than 400 metric tonnes of maize alone," he said.