Regulate poultry product importation — Farmers
Poultry farmers in the country have appealed to the government to regulate the import of frozen and other finished poultry products into the country to save the local industry from collapse.
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They said the regulation should ensure that a minimum of 40 per cent of the market share would be controlled by local producers as was the objective under the ‘Broiler Project’ which never took off.
According to the farmers, the influx of those poultry products, which sources and quality could not be ascertained, were not only killing the local poultry industry but also posed a health threat to the consuming public.
Market review
At a press conference by the Ashanti regional branch of the Poultry Farmers Association in Kumasi yesterday to review the market during the Christmas holiday, the association observed that due to the influx of cheaper frozen chicken into the country, most of the poultry farmers could not sell their products during the period.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Chicks and Chicken, Mr John Bewuah Edusei, who addressed the media on behalf of the association, explained that Christmas was the period where the poultry farmers sold a lot of chicken.
“Unfortunately for us this Christmas, our sales record was so bad. As we speak, there are hundreds of thousands of broilers and spent layers on our farms that should have been sold during the Christmas,” he said.
Reason
He blamed the situation on imported chicken that had been dumped on the market.
“This is destroying an industry which has the ability to provide so many jobs for our youth who are running up and down the country looking for jobs to do,” Mr Edusei indicated.
Lip service
According to the association, government after another had made promises to revamp the industry, “but this we are not seeing. Rather, we are seeing a serious decline and a possible collapse of an industry that is supposed to be vibrant.”
Mr Edusei added that although it had a vital role to play in the successful implementation of the Planting for Food and Jobs policy, it had been left out and called for a review of the government’s posture on poultry in the country.