New Juaben North MCE hails govt's ‘Nkoko Nkitinkiti’; says ‘bird’ prices have dropped by over 100%

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for New Juaben North, Samuel Adongo has lauded the government's “Feed Ghana” project, particularly the Nkoko Nkitinkiti initiative, describing it as exceptional and a game-changer for food security. In an interview with Class Media Group, Hon. Adongo extended his sincere gratitude to the President of the Republic, H.E. John Dramani Mahama, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, and staff of the Ministry for the initiative. According to him, the impact of the project is visible across the country. "Anywhere you pass, you will see Nkoko Nkitinkiti. It was so obvious that the cost of poultry birds became so cheap that it went down by more than 100%," he said. He recounted that a year before the project, he personally bought a fowl for GH¢250 but, today, the same size of the fowl sells for GH¢70 to GH¢80 on the market. "This means it has done something exceptional and it will help reduce the cost of living in the country. I pray that the time will come that Ghana will now be supplying birds to other countries and not importing birds," he added. Giving an account of the project in his municipality, Hon. Adongo disclosed that New Juaben North received about 10,000 birds with a little over 400 mortality. He commended the quality of feed supplied and the efforts of anchor farmers. He said the birds grew so big that at the time of distribution, many beneficiaries who came with small paper boxes were shocked. "Some had to go back home and bring a 'boboyaa' [big basin] to come and pick their birds," he said. He noted that beneficiaries received between 5 to 50 birds with some requesting just 5 birds because they did not have big cages and were concerned about feeding. Hon. Adongo used the opportunity to call on artisans, especially carpenters, to see the project as a business opportunity to build sizable cages that can house 20, 30 or 50 birds which will also create employment for the youth. He further encouraged the youth to embrace agriculture. "Even if you don't have that interest in farming, you just give it a try. And from that, you get to know that it is something beneficial," he said. He revealed that some farmers who received broilers took very good care of them, sold them after a few weeks, made good profit and used it as seed capital to start poultry farming with layers. The MCE however highlighted a major challenge with marketing the matured broilers. He said because of market challenges, some beneficiaries ended up consuming the birds. He therefore recommended that the next batch of distribution should focus on layers instead of broilers. "If it were layers, at least it would be a source of employment for most of our youth. Instead of consuming them, they could have been feeding them, getting the eggs and selling the eggs instead," he explained. He also appealed to the Feed Ghana Secretariat and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to organize training for farmers on poultry management before the next distribution. Finally, he advised persons interested in poultry farming to prepare their cages and feeding equipment in advance. He warned that, going forward, the Assembly will inspect cages, feed and drinkers before giving out birds to ensure government investment does not go to waste. "We have to make sure that whatever investment that the country is making in terms of poultry farming will yield something profitable and will turn lives and create jobs for our able youth within the country," he concluded.Source: classfmonline.com
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