Ghana imported over 300 million birds in 2017 - Poultry Farmers Association

Ghana imported 300 million birds in 2017, the National President for the Poultry Farmers Association, Nana Oppong Adjei has disclosed.

He described the figure as a worrying situation and an affront to local poultry farmers because Ghanaians are unable to produce and compete fairly with the imported ones.

The prices abroad are expensive and so why should we be importing or ship them into Ghana, pay duties but sell them at cheaper prices?

‘’This is why we are calling on journalists to investigate the issue and find out the reason behind this,’’ he told Kwame Tutu on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM.

He stressed. ‘’when you travel abroad, you will realize poultry is very expensive but when they are brought to Ghana, they are sell it cheaper in order to collapse our businesses.’’

Nana Oppong Adjei said, if Ghanaian farmers are allowed to produce a quarter of this, it will create more jobs for the unemployed youth.

‘’The importation of birds is having negative effects on poultry farming in Ghana. We have lamented and lamented but nothing has been done about it,’’ he indicated.

In 2017, Ghana imported a total of over 135,000Mt (about 112 million birds) of frozen chicken was imported from European Union (EU), which is 76 per cent increase over the 2016 EU import.

Ghana’s frozen chicken imports jumped from 13,000 metric tons in 2000 to over 155,000 metric tons in 2011 costing $169 million.