Government has pledged to invest some US$541million to improve the poultry industry, in line with one of the key resolutions of the recently-held Dakar II Summit in Senegal.

The decision seeks to revamp the industry and position it to curb recent imports, which are in excess of over US$600million per annum.

Chief Director at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Robert Ankobia – who revealed this to B&FT – said the move is to achieve self-sufficiency in poultry meat products by expanding production, increasing competitiveness and value addition.

The investment will accordingly increase domestic production from the current 50,000 tonnes a year to an envisaged 450,000 tonnes per annum.

“The venture is also expected to increase the domestic poultry sector’s value from the existing US$62million to US$562million,” Mr. Ankobia said.

According to MoFA, about US$20million will be expended on technical assistance programmes in animal husbandry and health; about US$69million on feed mills expansion and upgrading to reduce poultry feed costs; US$438million to enhance access to finance and cost-sharing support for private investment in hatcheries and production expansion; and US$14.8million on programmes to promote expansion of SME processing in slaughtering and packaging, among others.

“The above plan to invest in local poultry is part of pathways and one of the country’s key compacts during the Dakar II Summit to attain self-sufficiency and agrifood transformation for the next five years,” Mr. Ankobia said.

Important features of the compact include prioritisation of key sub-sectors with the highest impact on food security, with key considerations for other commodities such as rice and soybean.

Overall, the compact focuses on production expansion and loss-reduction in the country’s food value chain.

The Ghana National Poultry Farmers Association (GNPFA) has confirmed that over US$600million worth of chicken is dumped onto the domestic market annually.

The association said the phenomenon has compounded woes of the country’s poultry industry – which is on the verge of collapse due to lack of regulation to check the dumping of chicken.

The Association’s president, Victor Oppong, had previously mentioned that the country receives nearly 600,000 metric tonnes of frozen chicken valued at US$600million every year.