The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Ghana Poultry Project (GPP) has organized a two-day masterclass workshop for workers and retirees on how to run a profitable local poultry business.

The workshop was on the theme, “Highlighting Economic Opportunities in Ghana’s Poultry Sector”.

Technical Team Lead for Ghana Poultry project, Raymond Denteh explained that the Ghana Poultry Project Masterclass is a programme organized to expose the opportunities in Ghana’s poultry value chain to potential investors, potential poultry farmers and retirees.

According to him, the sector is a viable one in which the potentials are yet to be fully tapped due to financial constraints, among others.

GPP’s Chief of Party, Carianne de Boer indicated that the masterclass was organized as part of the project’s skills development programmes which includes youth mentorship.

This time around she added, the objective is to assist potential investors to build more sustainable poultry enterprises in Ghana by creating the platform for them to learn from existing successful businesses.

She further charged the participants to move beyond rhetoric and practice key learnings from their mentors. 

The programme brought together several poultry entrepreneurs to share their experiences including Chief Executive of Ransboat Farms, Ransford Atiemo and Chief Executive of Rockland Farms and Meats, Edith Wheatland as resource personnel.

Mr. Atiemo highlighted that poor management systems that keeps employees unchecked can quickly collapse poultry businesses.

He cited examples to explain how easy it is for employees to invent and deploy innovative stealing strategies and their crippling effects on farms.

The reality of poultry disease

Meanwhile, participants described the programme as timely due to the current declining state of the poultry industry, and especially at a time when inputs are in short supply and the sector is grappling with an imminent outbreak of Avian Influenza.

Ghana is currently dealing with an outbreak of Avian Influenza in certain parts of the country which he pointed out that farms with strong biosecurity measures are likely to be spared.

He further admonished the participants to start right by consulting their district veterinarians for advice to enable them minimize risks of diseases.