Russia-Ukraine war collapsing poultry industry in Bono Region – Minister   

About 70 per cent of poultry farms in the Dormaa Municipality have collapsed due to a lack of soya beans and wheat brans to feed the birds, Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, the Bono Regional minister has said.

Describing it as worrying, the regional minister said the situation had contributed to an increase in thievery and petty theft as well as resurfacing of illegal mining in the Municipality.

As a larger producer of eggs and poultry products in the region, Madam Owusu-Banahene said most of the young people engaged in the industry had been rendered jobless.

She said the Russian-Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic were the contributory factors to the shortage of poultry feeds, saying because of the war, the nation could no longer import soya beans and wheat from Ukraine.

Madam Owusu-Banahene made this known when she was speaking at the opening session of the 2023 Annual Conference and exhibition of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ghana (IBAG), underway in Sunyani.

The five-day conference, being attended by more than 200 insurance brokers and companies is on the theme, “The Effect of the Global Economic Challenges on the Ghanaian Insurance Industry.”

“The poultry industry in the Dormaa Municipality and the region by extension is suffering seriously from the devastating effect of the Russian-Ukraine war and COVID-19,” Madam Owusu-Banahene said and appealed to the insurance companies to offer assistance to the affected farmers.

Professor Justice Ofori, the Commissioner of Insurance, National Insurance Commission (NIC) implored the Association to work hard and contribute to the nation’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery process.

He said the country had not been spared from the global economic shocks and entreated the insurance companies to also endeavour to protect the interest of policy holders.