Banks reluctant to support poultry industry - GNAPF

The Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers (GNAPF) has disclosed that some banks in the country are reluctant to offer loans to players in the poultry industry.

The Association explained that the banks’ refusal to support the poultry industry is due to the lack of clear-cut documented policy regulating the poultry industry.

Napoleon Agyemang Oduro, Vice Chairman of GNAPF, who was speaking on a TV programme dubbed ‘Business Advocate’ organized by BUSAC Fund said, “As you know, we need financial institutions support to enable us revamp the poultry industry, but the absence of a documented policy is affecting the revamping of the industry.”

Legal Policy

Mr Agyemang Oduro called on government to, as a matter of urgency, formulate the Ghana Broiler Revitalization Project (GHABROP) legal policy document to catapult the growth of the country’s poultry industry.

He attributed the absence of a documented legal policy to the lack of proper modalities of investing in the country’s broiler and poultry industry as a whole.

The Broiler Revitalization project spanning 10 years aims at boosting local capacity in the production, processing and marketing of broiler chicken in the once vibrant poultry production country.

Mr Agyemang Oduro said the 40 percent import substitution which mandates importers to buy 40 percent of their poultry products from farmers in the country is a just a lip service, stating “we do not have a legal document on that.”

“As an association, we do not have the documented policy likewise the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI). So our Members of Parliament (MPs) cannot rely on any document to formulate a policy for the project to regulate the poultry industry,” he said.

Director, Logistics and Value Chain at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Papa Kow Bartels, in his remarks, appealed to members of the poultry farmers to come up with bankable projects to attract funding from commercial banks.

He urged them to embrace new innovations and technologies to improve the industry.

“The Broiler Revitalization Project, when supported well by all the stakeholders, would also develop the poultry industry along the poultry value chain and ensure that production farms, input suppliers, hatcheries, feed mills, veterinary service producers, processors, marketers/cold stores and consumers all play their roles to ensure self-sufficiency,” Mr Bartels said.

Dr. Anthony Akunzule, Deputy Director, Veterinary Services of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, said the target of the Broiler Revitalization Project is to produce 30,000 metric tonnes of broiler meat with an expected increase to 60,000 metric tonnes by the year 2016.

Currently, the local poultry industry players produced five percent of chicken for the country’s chicken needs while 95 percent of the chicken consumed in Ghana are imported.

Statistics obtained between 2010 and 2012 indicated that Ghana imported approximately 200,000 metric tonnes of chicken valued at $200 million which is equivalent to 2.6 million chickens per week.