The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, has disclosed that the government has begun procuring birds for Members of Parliament under the Nkokɔ Nkitinkiti initiative as part of efforts to boost domestic poultry production.

Speaking before Parliament’s Committee on Assurances on Thursday, July 9, Mr Opoku said the initiative is aimed at encouraging lawmakers to participate in poultry farming while supporting the government’s broader agenda to reduce Ghana’s dependence on imported poultry products.

According to him, although a formal proposal will soon be presented to Parliament for consideration and approval, significant preparatory work has already been done.

“I will soon table a proposal before Parliament for consideration. If Parliament agrees, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture will support all parliamentarians to go into poultry production,” he said.

“Even though I’m calling it a proposal, plans are far advanced,” he added.

Mr Opoku revealed that the Ministry had already started the process of securing birds specifically for Members of Parliament ahead of the rollout of the programme.

“The Ministry is procuring some quantity of birds, mainly for Members of Parliament,” he stated.

He explained that once the birds are ready, they will be distributed to designated locations to enable interested MPs to begin poultry production.

The Minister said the decision to involve MPs in the programme was based on their capacity to scale up poultry businesses and attract further interest and investment into the sector.

He described poultry farming as a viable and profitable venture, encouraging legislators to take advantage of the opportunity when the initiative is implemented.

“And I must say that it’s a very viable project. I’m a poultry farmer myself. I started not long ago. If you know what I know, you would have run to be part of that process,” Mr Opoku said.

The Minister further revealed that many Members of Parliament were already actively involved in agriculture despite their public roles as legislators.

“As we speak, about 67% of MPs in Ghana are farmers. And so when you see people in ties, and you think that they are only making money from Parliament, you are deceiving yourself,” he added.

The Nkokɔ Nkitinkiti initiative is one of the government’s flagship agricultural interventions aimed at revitalising Ghana’s poultry industry, increasing local production, creating investment opportunities and reducing the country’s reliance on imported chicken and other poultry products.