The Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Accra Poultry Farmers Association, Ali Muhammed, says Ghana’s efforts to revive the poultry sector must go beyond government interventions and focus on fixing the underlying challenges affecting production.

He argues that without a coordinated system to increase local production of key inputs such as maize and soya, poultry farmers will continue to struggle to compete with imported frozen chicken.

Speaking during a Joy Business roundtable discussion on the topic “Can Ghana Feed Itself? The Future of Poultry Beyond Nkoko Nketenkete”, Mr Muhammed said the poultry industry requires stronger collaboration among government agencies, farmers and input suppliers.

According to him, the lack of coordination between the agriculture and trade sectors has made it difficult for farmers to access affordable raw materials needed for animal feed production.

“How do you increase your soya production? These are the major components in poultry production. There’s a total disjoint,” he said.

Mr Muhammed stressed that poultry farmers are not seeking short-term support but sustainable policies that will address production challenges.

“Whenever we approach these policymakers, we are not in for the freebies. We want this thing to be sustainable. But there’s a lack of coordination,” he added.

He expressed concern about challenges within institutions responsible for supporting the sector, including the veterinary services system, which he described as needing urgent attention.

Mr Muhammed said the announcement of the government’s Nkoko Nketenkete initiative initially generated optimism among farmers, as many expected it to provide a major boost to local poultry production.

However, he argued that the programme has not sufficiently addressed the structural challenges facing the industry.

“When we saw intervention being led by government, we said hallelujah. Government is going to do something wonderful. But after some few months into the first phase of implementation, we said no, no, no. It’s only a catching phase,” he said.

According to him, the bigger challenge remains creating the conditions needed to make poultry production commercially viable.

He cited the recent egg glut, which forced farmers to seek public attention over difficulties finding markets for their produce, as evidence of the challenges facing producers.

“Why should the farmer, after going through all this hassle, raise birds, have these eggs, and there’s no market for egg products? It hurts a lot,” he said.

Mr Muhammed also criticised what he described as gaps in the policy framework for the poultry sector, particularly the absence of a clear link between crop farmers, feed producers and poultry farmers.

He explained that maize and soya producers need to be better integrated into the poultry value chain to reduce production costs.

“The major input for poultry is actually the raw material for the feed. You talk about soya, you talk about maize. What is the coordination between the local farmers who plant the maize and the soya processors? There’s no coordination,” he said.

He added that high feed costs make it difficult for Ghanaian poultry farmers to compete with imported frozen chicken.

“The foreign frozen chicken is competitive because there’s one element called cost. The cost is manageable at their end. Without it, forget it,” he stated.

Mr Muhammed maintained that Ghanaian consumers have a preference for locally produced chicken but are often forced to consider affordability when making purchasing decisions.

“The Ghanaian consumer knows the chicken that is best, and he can tell you the local chicken. But when the consumer gets to the market, it’s about disposable income against what he can afford. That’s the bottom line,” he said.

He called for a comprehensive approach that connects farmers, processors, policymakers and markets to ensure the long-term sustainability of Ghana’s poultry industry.

Ghana consumes an estimated 452,100 tonnes of chicken a year but produces only about 60,000 tonnes of it domestically - meaning roughly 87% of the chicken Ghanaians eat is imported. Closing that gap means raising 226 million birds a year, roughly 7.5 times today's domestic output of about 30 million birds, or less than one bird per Ghanaian raised locally today.