National livestock policy hub launched

Dr Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan, Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture in-charge of Crops, on Tuesday said Ghana is still a net importer of livestock products as it is yet to meet the growing demand for animal protein.

He said the country’s total imports for all different types of meat products amounted to 122,446 metric tons in 2012 while its local slaughter figures for livestock at the slaughter houses that same year stood for 31,809 metric tons.

Dr Alhassan, who was launching the National Livestock Policy Hub to reinforce the Veterinary Governance (VET-GOV) in Africa programme, said the meat slaughter statistics indicate a huge deficit of local meat production for consumption.

“In 2012, Ghana imported a total of 23,622 cattle from neighbouring countries for slaughter as compared to 9,384 in 2011. A total of 19,488 sheep and goats were also imported into the country for slaughter in 2012,” he said.

The National Livestock Policy Hub is a multidisciplinary group formed to ensure broad stakeholder participation in the livestock policy process and currently 54 African countries are participating in the programme.

The Ghana Livestock Policy Hub has the Ministry of Food and Agriculture as the overseer and the Deputy Minister in-charge of Livestock as the Chairman, while the technical committee members are drawn from government ministries, non-governmental organizations, national representatives of farmer-based organizations, women organizations, and development partners.

Dr Alhassan said it is time for the country to seriously tackle the constraints and opportunities in the livestock sector and urged the members to find solutions for the growth of the livestock sector.

He said an increased growth in the value chain of livestock sector would provide numerous jobs along the chain for the youth and women who are the most vulnerable in the society.

He said the composition of membership of the Hub from diverse backgrounds in livestock issues would enable them bring together and share rich experiences and knowledge to contribute to the livestock development agenda of Government.

The Deputy Minister said the enthusiasm of the private, public and the non-governmental organization to be members of the National Livestock Policy Hub was very welcome.

Dr Alhassan, therefore, urged the members to see their coming together in the National Livestock Policy Hub as an opportunity to engage themselves through thorough deliberations for the common good by ensuring the provision of the needed animal protein in sufficient qualities for the people.

Dr Philip Salia, Acting Director of Veterinary Service, said the VET-GOV programme was implemented in partnership with the Regional Economic Committees (RECs), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Organization for Animal Health.

He said the Africa Union Inter African Bureau for Animal Resources was in-charge of the overall coordination of the programme and implementation of most activities.

He said members of the National Livestock Policy Hub were identified by participants from institutions based on a national consultative multidisciplinary stakeholder workshop held in Accra in June 2013.