Government to distribute poultry to commercial farmers

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has announced plans to begin distributing poultry to large-scale commercial farmers in June this year.

This forms part of efforts by the ministry to revitalize Ghana’s poultry sector and reduce reliance on imports under government's ‘Nkoko Nkitinkiti’ Programme.

Chief Technical Advisor to the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Kwesi Etu-Bonde, in an interview with Channel One TV on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, explainedc that the extension of the programme to commercial farmers had been delayed due to pending financial and procurement approvals.

“We wanted to move very fast, but there are authorization and commitment processes that must be completed...Once those are finalised, we expect that by June we will hit the ground running," he said.

He noted that government is working assiduosly to strengthen the entire poultry value chain, as well as, increase investment from both the public and private sectors in production and processing.

Kwesi Etu-Bonde further highlighted the challenge posed by imported poultry products, many of which are subsidized in their countries of origin, placing local producers at a disadvantage.

“Every broiler imported into Ghana has been subsidized by the exporting country,” he said.

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“Meanwhile, our local processors and producers do not receive such subsidies, which makes the competition difficult,” he stated.

He added that data currently being compiled at the district level will guide the next phase of the program, which is expected to boost production and attract more investment into the sector.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of Agri-Impact Group Limited, Daniel Fahene Acquaye, has called for a broader and more coordinated approach to addressing challenges within the poultry sector.

“People often think ‘Nkoko Nkitinkiti’ is the entire poultry revitalization programme, but it is only one part. The broader strategy also focuses on commercial poultry farmers and small-to-medium scale producers,” he said.

He also stressed the need to significantly expand processing capacity in the country to meet the growing demand.

SO/SA

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