Reviving Poultry: The Gov't's Vital Role

The Path to Reviving Ghana's Poultry Sector

Ghana's poultry industry, once a vital contributor to the nation’s economic growth, is now facing significant challenges. To restore its former prominence, the country needs strong, strategic, and sustained leadership from the government. While initiatives like the "Akokɔ Nketenkete" Poultry Farm-to-Table Programme are promising, they must be part of a broader, more comprehensive approach.

A Sector Undermined by Weak Policy

The poultry and livestock sector in Ghana continues to struggle due to outdated and poorly enforced policies. Frameworks related to animal health, feed inputs, meat inspection, and production standards are either obsolete or inconsistently applied. Without modern and robust policies, the sector remains vulnerable to inefficiencies and external shocks.

To create a fair environment for local producers, Ghana should consider implementing a managed trade policy similar to South Africa’s. Even though South Africa has efficient production, it still faces unfair competition from subsidized EU exports. Given Ghana’s more precarious position, clear import ceilings and stakeholder consensus are essential.

Redefining the "Enabling Environment"

The term “enabling environment” is often used in development discussions but rarely unpacked. In practice, it involves several key elements:

• Policy Consistency: Ending short-term, politically driven initiatives and establishing a long-term national poultry strategy.
• Affordable Financing: Moving beyond temporary funding schemes to create structured de-risking mechanisms and partnerships with financial institutions to offer tailored financial products.
• Infrastructure Development: Modern abattoirs, cold chain systems, logistics, and reliable power and water access are crucial. Incentives for private sector investment in these areas are needed.
• Human Capital and Research: Building a skilled workforce and strengthening veterinary services must go hand-in-hand with investments in R&D to improve genetics, feed conversion ratios, and disease resistance.
• Fair Market Competition: Safeguards are required to protect against the dumping of cheap, subsidized poultry products that undermine local producers.
• Regulatory Enforcement: Strict and consistent quality standards across the value chain are vital for consumer confidence and market integrity.
• Land Access: Government, in collaboration with traditional leaders, should facilitate land access models where landowners contribute land as equity and benefit from fair returns.

Institutional Coordination—The Missing Link

One major obstacle in the poultry sector is the lack of coordination among regulatory and implementing institutions. Agencies such as the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Veterinary Services Directorate (VSD), and the Animal Production Directorate (APD) each play important roles, but their efforts are often disjointed.

An integrated coordination mechanism underpinned by a shared strategic framework is needed to harmonize roles, foster synergy, and enhance the impact of government interventions.

"Akokɔ Nketenkete": A Starting Point, Not the Destination

With a budget of GHS 1.5 billion, the "Akokɔ Nketenkete" programme aims to boost domestic poultry production, reduce import dependency, and create jobs. However, to truly transform the sector, the programme must be implemented with focus, transparency, and strategic prioritization.

Key targets include:

• Annual production of 66.7 million broilers
• Weekly processing of 1.28 million birds
• Supply of 1.35 million day-old chicks per week
• Weekly setting of 1.69 million fertile eggs (with 80% hatchability)
• Over 2 million eggs weekly (accounting for rejection)
• A breeder base of 527,000 broiler breeder females
• Annual feed requirement of 222,222 metric tons
• Maize requirement of 133,333 MT and soya meal of 77,778 MT

The programme must also align with youth employment and rural development strategies. Partnerships with youth-based agribusiness platforms and cooperatives can maximize development impact and social return on investment.

Unlike Nigeria’s outright poultry import ban, Ghana could explore a quota-based import control system, ensuring both trade fairness and local industry protection. The government must also prioritize input supply logistics, mechanized services, and investment in rural feeder roads to support smallholder participation.

Where the GHS 1.5 Billion Should Go

Investment should focus on several key areas:

• Feed Production and Input Financing: Expand local maize and soya production, including youth engagement initiatives. Structured input financing models should integrate credit, insurance, and mechanization.
• National Breeding Program and Hatchery Modernization: Invest in a national breeding farm and upgrade hatcheries. Provide training in brooding, biosecurity, and flock management.
• Processing and Cold Chain Development: Establish certified abattoirs and cold storage through PPPs. Invest in packaging, branding, and waste management infrastructure.
• Skills Development and Digital Innovation: Create training programs in poultry science and management, and deploy ICT solutions for disease tracking, production monitoring, and market access.
• Farmer Association Strengthening: Support governance, financial management, leadership development, and advocacy capacity among poultry associations.
• Monitoring and Evaluation Framework: Allocate part of the funding to develop a real-time M&E system to track progress and adjust interventions based on impact metrics.

Government’s Role Beyond Finance

Real change will only occur when the government acts as a facilitator and enabler. Beyond funding, this includes:

• Enforcing local procurement quotas for poultry in schools, hospitals, prisons, and military institutions.
• Providing tax incentives for investment in poultry infrastructure and inputs.
• Establishing a National Poultry Sector Coordination Council to drive implementation, monitor progress, and ensure accountability.
• Leveraging public procurement laws to support local producers and create guaranteed markets.
• Championing a poultry-specific window within the Ghana Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (GIRSAL).
• Collaborating with the Bank of Ghana and Development Bank Ghana (DBG) to develop long-term financing solutions tailored to poultry enterprises.

Conclusion: Turning Political Will into Sustainable Action

Reviving Ghana’s poultry sector is no longer a matter of aspiration—it is a national imperative. The vision to substitute 25% of poultry imports with domestic production is achievable, but only if the government moves from fragmented, short-term interventions to a bold, strategic, and coordinated policy regime.

The "Akokɔ Nketenkete" programme offers a starting point, but it must not become an end in itself. To transform intent into impact, the government must lead with clarity, commit to inclusive planning, and catalyze private sector confidence through consistent policies, infrastructure investments, and institutional alignment.

Ghana’s poultry industry does not lack talent or ambition—it lacks the enabling ecosystem to thrive. The time has come for leadership that prioritizes long-term productivity over short-term political gains, and that puts farmers, processors, and agribusinesses at the heart of economic renewal. If we get this right, Ghana can build not only a resilient poultry industry, but also a model for agribusiness-led industrialization.