The Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, John Dumelo, says the volume of poultry products imported into Ghana is expected to fall sharply once the government’s Nkoko Nkitinkiti initiative begins to yield results.

He made the remarks during a panel discussion on Ghana at 69 and strategies to enhance national food self-sufficiency on JoyNews on Monday, March 9.

“We know our consumption; we only produce five to six per cent of what we consume when it comes to our poultry products, and that is why we launched the Nkoko Nkitinkiti project, where we are making sure that there are enough poultry products, hence the importation will stop,” he said.

“We know that once everything comes into full force, we are going to reduce the import of poultry products.”

The Deputy Minister revealed that the distribution of birds under the programme is currently underway across the country.

“Now, we have started distributing the birds. We have done about five or six regions. Eight regions are in the breeding stage, and hopefully, within three months, all the regions will have gotten it, and that is over three million birds we are distributing,” he stated.

According to recent government data, Ghana currently spends between US$300 million and US$400 million annually on imported poultry meat and related products, reflecting the country’s heavy reliance on frozen chicken and other poultry products from overseas suppliers.

The Nkoko Nkitinkiti programme is a flagship poultry development initiative introduced by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as part of its Feed Ghana agenda to transform the agricultural value chain and strengthen food security.

Launched in late 2025 by John Dramani Mahama, the project is designed to empower thousands of households and poultry farmers nationwide.

Under the initiative, the government plans to distribute millions of birds, support local hatcheries and feed production, and develop market linkages that will gradually shift production from informal backyard operations to a more organised and commercialised sector.

Read also: Mahama launches “Nkoko Nkitinkiti” initiative to boost food security and livelihoods.

According to the Deputy Minister, the policy is expected to begin reducing poultry imports in the near future.

“When you look at some of these policies that we have introduced, hopefully by the end of this year, we should see some amount of decrease in the importation of some of these poultry products we have imported in the past years. We know and hope and pray that it will stop the importation of poultry products along the line,” he said on the show.