Veep appeals to poultry farmers to improve on product packaging

Accra, May 28, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Friday appealed to poultry farmers to improve on the packaging of their products in order to attract both domestic and foreign markets. "If for example you decide to package thighs, necks, gizzards, breasts and wings of your fowls differently, it will attract more patronage, because people will know what they want and where to find it." Vice President Mahama made the appeal when a delegation of Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers called on him at the Osu Castle. He said the days when people bought live fowls and worked on them at home were gone, and called on the poultry farmers to keep abreast of trends on the international market. The Vice President appealed to them to consider going into yellow corn and soybean cultivation to reduce the cost of feeding their poultry. "I understand most of you spend so much on poultry feeds and I want to believe that if you engage yourselves in the cultivation of yellow corn and soy beans it will go a long way to cut down the cost of feeding in your farms."

He urged members of the association to step up poultry production as government was ready to absorb surplus production in any agricultural production. Vice President Mahama said the global population was hitting a 10- billion mark and would soon be depending on Africa, which was endowed with arable lands to feed the world. "Other continents have reached their peak, and it is for us in Africa to step up our food production to feed them in the coming years." Mr. Kwadwo Asante, Chairman of the association appealed to government to assist them to acquire funding to begin what he termed as "The Broiler project" aimed at increasing poultry farming throughout the country. "With the increase in broiler project, more eggs will be produced, more chicks would be hatched and more than 10, 000 jobs will be created for our youth in the country."

He called for the establishment of an industry that would make use of the by-products of Soya which often go waste. "Although more than 80 per cent of Soya is milled in the country, we often do not know what to do with the by-products and we shall be happy if government establishes an industry to utilize it." 28 May 10