The poultry industry is seen as a major contributor to the development of the country through employment creation and the enhancement of nutrition and food security (Adei and Asante, 2012). The potential of this industry’s contribution to poverty alleviation and revenue generation has been overlooked by policy makers. Successive governments have paid lip service to the development of agriculture in general and the poultry sub-sector in particular but their inactions, unfortunately, has been the death knell which is sending the sub-sector gradually into its ‘grave’. There are myriads of problems that militate against the industry; notable among them are lack of financial services, difficulties in marketing of produce, high cost of feed and other inputs, and chiefly among them is the importation of cheap poultry products. The purpose of this write-up is to bring to the fore how the import of cheap frozen chicken from the European Union (EU), United States (US), and Brazil is helping to collapse our poultry industry. Background In the 1960’s, the then government realized that the only way to address the acute shortfall in the supply of animal protein and also an avenue to generate employment was to promote the commercial poultry production. This led to the setting up of many state farms notable among them was the Pomadze Farms. The growth, however, was very slow due to unavailability of inputs and outbreak of poultry diseases. The 70’s saw the revival of the industry. The then existing government’s move to support the industry led to the removal of import duties on poultry imports. This opened the floodgates for the setting up of private commercial poultry farms to raise chicken. Again, the ‘Operation Feed Yourself’ programme instituted by the Acheampong regime made people to develop interest in backyard poultry production. These interventions led to the rapid growth of the poultry industry in the 1980’s and 1990’s. According to Flake and Ashitey (2008), the industry developed into a vibrant agricultural sector and supplied about 95 percent chicken meat and eggs in the country. The picture has been bleak since 2000. The sector that was hitherto supplying almost all the poultry products of the country has seen production declining steeply while imports have been increasing drastically. Worrying Statistics The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) gives startling statistics about Ghana’s import of frozen chicken vis- a- vis its local production of poultry. The importation of poultry products in 2000 by the country was only 12,000 metric tons (MT). This figure increased to 51,000MT in 2005 and by 2010, it had hit 109,000MT. By the end of 2012, the country had imported 167,000MT of frozen chicken. It is estimated that, Ghana will import about 172,000MT of chicken by the end of 2013. On the contrary, the country’s broiler meat production has been dwindling at an alarming rate. For instance, in the year 2000, the country’s production stood at 13,000MT. This increased to 22,000MT in 2005 and by 2010, it had declined to 16,000MT. This figure has remained the same till 2012 and it is anticipated to remain unchanged in 2013 (www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/country). Effects on the Economy The unbridled importation of frozen chicken, I daresay, is one of the factors which are contributing to the challenges that our economy is facing now. The country spends huge amount of hard earned foreign exchange to import chicken which can be produced locally. It is estimated that Ghana spent over 200 million United States dollars on the importation of frozen chicken in 2012. This forms about 4.98% and 11.41% of our Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and Total Imports respectively. The impact of these imports on employment cannot be underestimated. It is established that Agriculture provides 56% of the labour force in the country (www.indexmundi.com/ghana/economy). As local poultry production falls, a lot of direct jobs are lost which goes to worsen the already precarious unemployment situation. Again, other supporting businesses in the value chain like haulage, feed manufacturing, processing, input supplying and marketing are not able to expand to employ more people. Revenue ( in the form of direct and indirect taxes) which would have accrued to the government for the development of the country are lost as a result of below capacity production of local poultry farmers and allied businesses. The way forward In order to forestall the imminent collapse of the poultry industry, the government should as a matter of urgency increase the tariff on imported poultry. A tariff is a tax imposed on imports coming into a country. This trade policy tool is to protect locally produced goods or commodities from competitive imports. Currently, Ghana’s tariff policy is that she has a bound rate of 99 per cent as against an applied rate of 20 per cent. The’ bound rate’ is the maximum rate allowed by the World Trade organization (WTO) to any member country as a ‘barrier’ to check damping. The existing applied rate of 20% should be increased to at least 50 per cent which will engender fair competition between locally produced chicken and imported ones. When implemented the government should remain resolute and not pander to the whims and caprices of the Bretton Wood institutions’ conditionality as the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) government did in 2003. Again, the government should consider providing subsidy or some form of support programmes that boost local production. It is sad to note that of all the agriculture sub-sectors, it is only the livestock (of which poultry is inclusive) sub- sector which does not enjoy any form of subsidy. The government should not hide behind the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank’s conditionality to stifle this industry of the needed stimulus. After all, the EU and the US which are all signatories to the WTO Agreements on Agriculture still subsidize their farmers to produce at much lower cost. In fact, it is estimated that the EU provides 43 billion euros to its farmers to produce annually (Khor, 2006). Also, the government through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) should form a committee and task them to draw a comprehensive poultry policy for the country. The committee should not be made up of only technocrats but it should include all the stakeholders like poultry farmers association, feed millers, input suppliers, financial institutions, research and higher educational institutions, advocacy groups and consumers. There should be an action plan for the implementation of the policy and its tenets should be religiously adhered to. Finally, the capacity of local poultry farmers needs to be improved. Periodic training programmes should be organized for the farmers to improve their knowledge of modern management practices in the industry. Research institutions and academia should also interact with them regularly to share with them new discoveries and results from their research findings in the poultry industry. Also, educational and familiarization trips can be organized for them abroad to attend poultry fairs and visit well established farms to acquaint themselves with new technological trends emerging in the industry. Conclusion The poultry industry has a huge potential to help develop our country through poverty alleviation, reduction of our protein deficits and promoting food security. Notwithstanding this, it is faced with unfair competition from cheap poultry imports which is threatening its survival. And unless the government takes bold decisions to remove the bottlenecks stifling its growth, its collapse is imminent which will not augur well for the economy of the country. Our West African neighbor Nigeria saw this emerging threat and took drastic measures to ban the importation of frozen poultry in 2002. Today, it has a vibrant poultry industry in West Africa and local producers are able to meet their poultry needs. If a populous nation like Nigeria is able to supply all its poultry products locally, why can’t Ghana- a relatively smaller nation- supply its needs? Let us act now to salvage our sinking poultry industry. BY: Kwadwo Atta-Owusu Vetcom Ventures Limited Kumasi. Contact: 024-4233433; 020-3693455 E-mail address: attaowusu@yahoo.com