The Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Accra Poultry Farmers Association (GAPFA), Ali Muhammed, has expressed disappointment over what he describes as the exclusion of the country's largest poultry farmers' association from the formulation of the government's Feed Ghana Programme policy.

Speaking during a Joy Business roundtable discussion on the theme, "Can Ghana Feed Itself? The Future of Poultry Beyond Nkoko Nketenkete," Mr Muhammed said GAPFA was never consulted during the development of the policy, despite its extensive experience and investment across the poultry value chain.

He said the association only realised the programme was about to be implemented after meeting the National Coordinator of the Feed Ghana Programme, Bright Kwadzo Demordzi.

According to Mr Muhammed, GAPFA made several attempts to engage the programme's leadership and offer technical input but was never given the opportunity.

"The first time of meeting Honourable Demordzi in his office was when we realised the project was going to take off, when we didn't make an input into the policy document," he stated.

Mr Muhammed argued that GAPFA should have played a central role in shaping the policy, given its practical expertise and investments in poultry production.

"I made several attempts, and we never cited that document. As the biggest poultry farmers' association in the country, and the only poultry farmers' association that has a feed mill plant, we never made input into the policy document," he said.

He stressed that the association's exclusion from the policy formulation process should be formally acknowledged, insisting that it was never given the opportunity to review or contribute to the document before implementation.

"That should be a matter of record. We never made input into the policy document. We never cited it before," he added.

The GAPFA Chief Executive further disclosed that he had formally sought engagement with the Feed Ghana Programme Secretariat, including writing to the National Coordinator and visiting his office on multiple occasions in the hope of participating in the policy development process.

"I sent a letter to Honourable Demordzie's office. I was there on three occasions. We wanted to be given the opportunity to make an input. We were not given that opportunity," he revealed.

Mr Muhammed argued that excluding key industry stakeholders from the policy development process risks overlooking practical experience that could strengthen the implementation and long-term success of government initiatives aimed at transforming Ghana's poultry industry.

He noted that GAPFA's contribution extends beyond poultry farming, highlighting its investment in feed production and its role as a major employer.

"We are not only raising birds. We are the only association that has a feed mill plant, and we are employing people in their hundreds," he said.

According to him, the association's experience in both poultry production and feed manufacturing places it in a strong position to provide technical recommendations that could enhance government policies aimed at increasing local poultry production and reducing Ghana's dependence on imported poultry.

Ghana consumes an estimated 452,100 tonnes of chicken annually but produces only about 60,000 tonnes domestically, meaning roughly 87 per cent of the chicken consumed in the country is imported. Closing that gap would require raising an estimated 226 million birds each year, about 7.5 times current domestic production of approximately 30 million birds.