Our meat production needs better attention
Meat plays a very important role in the diet of every human being, providing the necessary protein, energy and fat for the body.
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Healthy growth of the human body is dependent on a host of factors, including the right intake of meat of any kind.
One of the commonest conditions associated with inadequate meat or protein intake, especially among children, is stunted growth commonly referred to as kwashiorkor. It is for this reason that many countries offer the necessary assistance to ranchers or cattle herders and those in animal husbandry, including assistance to secure land at suitable places.
However, there is a worrying phenomenon that has reared its head in the breeding of animals in the country and that is the refusal of landowners to let out tracts of land to breeders, as disclosed by the Vice-Chairman of the Cattle Dealers and Breeders Association in Kumasi, Mr Mohamed Iddrisu (see story on page 3).
It is one of the major reasons many are rearing animals at their backyards, instead of locations out of town where fodder is in abundance, as is done in other countries.
The Mirror sees this situation as very dangerous because in case of the outbreak of any disease, large communities will be severely impacted.
Already, as Mr Iddrisu indicated, more than half of the animals sold in the country currently are brought from nearby countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Cote d’Ivoire.
This has seriously affected the price of meat such as beef, mutton and goat meat, with more and more Ghanaians being unable to afford their daily requirement of meat.
Apart from this trend opening the country up for diseases that break out in those countries, any break in supply from those foreign sources could be very disastrous to the nation.
While we urge chiefs, opinion leaders and communities to consider the good that meat does to a country and stop rejecting, sacking and refusing to give land out to animal breeders, we also urge the Ministry of Agriculture and other agencies tasked with ensuring the protein needs of the country to step in to prevent the premature collapse of the meat industry.
Industries that gave the country the much needed foreign exchange, such as the Meat Processing Factory in Bolgatanga that produced the Volta Corned Beef, could not have been made possible without locally bred cattle.
Whereas we agree that some people in the animal industry have behaved badly at places such as Agogo and the Afram Plains, we do not believe it is justifiable enough to warrant outright refusal to lease land to others.
The Mirror believes it is time for the government and all stakeholders to take a second look at animal breeding and the meat industry before the country is left with no meat for consumption.