The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, has said that the government has been creating the enabling environment for a booming poultry sector in Ghana.
He makes the point that in Ghana, poultry and agriculture in general are mostly private sector-driven.
Recently, the Minister came under heavy criticism from Ghanaians after disclosing to Parliament’s Committee on Assurance that some partners of the flagship Nkoko Nkitinkiti Program have consumed the birds upon maturity and sent videos to him.
Irrespective of the challenges, the government, he said, will continue to provide incentives for the private investors to thrive in the sector to reduce the country’s import bill.
Over the past one and a half years, he added, the Mahama administration has been supporting poultry farmers with the Nkoko Nkitinkiti initiative. He noted that several investors, including religious leaders and churches, have started poultry farming due to the government’s initiative.
The Nkoko Nkitinkiti initiative is the flagship component of the poultry industry revitalisation programme under the government’s broader Feed Ghana programme and targets 60,000 households.
Speaking exclusively on Onua Television, Eric Opoku said, “The problem we want to solve with the Nkoko Nkitinkiti is not the purchases by the government that will solve it because agriculture in Ghana is entirely private sector-led. What the government does is to create the enabling environment to allow individual farmers to survive in the business. So we encourage all farmers to take part in the Nkoko Nkitinkiti to benefit from it.”
“I know a lot of pastors and churches that have gone into poultry farming. Within this one and a half years, a lot more people have gone into poultry farming, so we have been able to generate a lot of interest that has attracted people into poultry farming.”
He further defended the initiative and responded to concerns over the projects
being a failure.
“Those who say the project has been a failure have not established any strong leg to come to that conclusion. They admitted that the birds have been raised but consumed. What they have forgotten is that birds are reared for consumption. Whether the beneficiaries sell or consume the birds, the ultimate is for consumption.
“So once we have been successful in raising the birds and they are being consumed, the project is a monumental success,” he said.
Story by Kofi Nartey
