Vice President of the Greater Accra Poultry Farmers Association, Michael Ampem has appealed to government to subsidise the cost of feed to enable them increase production of birds for the market.

Experts in the poultry industry claim there is a shortfall in the number of birds required to meet local consumption.

He explained that the total number of birds in the country is about 40 million and average capita consumption of birds per person is 1.3 per person, which is well below the United Nation standards.

Yet for “30 million people, the capita consumption should be 2.5 per person,” he said.

He also appealed to the government to reduce the importation of poultry products so that people can consume locally sourced poultry products.

Acknowledging that some people might lose jobs as a result of import reductions, he said that local poultry farmers could fill in those gaps to prevent damage to the sector.

Mr Ampem’s call on government to introduce an import reduction policy for poultry products comes at a time where a campaign to promote local rice is growing.