The Poultry Farmers Association of Ghana has urged the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to do more to encourage the consumption of local poultry during festive seasons.

The association is lamenting low sales as most consumers still prefer imported frozen chicken.

Speaking to Joy Business, the Chairperson of the Greater Accra Poultry Farmers Association, Gifty Rodor appealed for more awareness ahead of the New Year season to encourage the consumption of local poultry.

Ms. Rodor is of the view that sales could go up if government embarks on a deliberate effort to highlight the importance of local poultry consumption to the public.

For example, she said, there are many consumers who still prefer imported frozen chicken even though local poultry is better and nutritious.

“The patronage of our domestic chicken has not been encouraging”, she said, blaming the situation on cheap imported frozen chicken.

Providing some recommendations, Ms. Rodor said it is time for government to step in and provide subsidies for poultry farmers to boost their capacities.

“The imported frozen chicken that you see is heavily subsidised for the poultry farmers in those countries. Their governments do that to make them competitive in export”.

She expressed worry that anytime foreign earnings are spent on imported chicken, more work is created for the foreign country at the disadvantage of Ghanaian poultry farmers.

She added that government can come to the aid of the industry by making special arrangements for the supply of feed to farmers.

She concluded that feed constitutes a substantial cost of the entire production process, hence, any policy targeted at reducing cost of feed would be beneficial to farmers.