An advocate for women in the poultry industry has implored President Akufo-Addo to introduce some subsidies for the industry to grow.

CEO of Rockland farms, Edith Akosa Wheatland, also called for the importation of poultry products to be checked to increase consumption of local products.

'I will like President Akufo-Addo to encourage the banks to give financial support to women and if possible regulate the number of broilers that are imported into the country to give us a chance to produce at least some of it. 

'To be able to compete with foreign imports, government should give us subsidy on the poultry feed and the poultry input," she noted.

Miss Wheatland who left her stay in the US to invest in the poultry farming says the industry has the capacity to create wealth and employment if an enabling environment is created especially for women to invest in it.

She represents the few Ghanaian women who have boldly ventured into what many believe is a male-dominated industry.

Ms Akosa Wheatland disclosed to Luv News that she used to sleep at her farm at Ankamadoa in the Sekyere Central District when she started due to lack of funds to expand.

According to her, the industry is hampered by increasing cost of poultry feed and access to loans.

'I applied for a loan in November 2017 to buy maize but I am yet to get the approval from the bank. They have always been demanding one document or another. 

'So it's very difficult getting funding because they all see the poultry industry as a high-risk industry. When you apply, for instance, say ¢1 million, the bank will come back and say they can only give you ¢500,000,' she lamented.

Ms Akosa Wheatland said when local banks will not help, private organisations helped her to expand to the current 60,000-bird capacity farm.

She now produces her own feed and boasts of 60,000 birds which produce 1300 trays of eggs a day.

Ms Akosa Wheatland said the poultry industry could be the breadbasket of the country and a major income earning opportunity for women if it gets the needed support from government.

She wants government to introduce some incentives as it did for cocoa to give it a boost.

Her quest is likely to get some response as the District Chief Executive for Sekyere Central, Kwadwo Banahene Bediako, said government has plans for entrepreneurs under the one district one factory initiative. 

'Nana Addo's vision of One District One Factory and Planting For Food and Jobs are doing well and it will only get better,' he assured.