They therefore appealed to the government to intervene and provide them with “soft loans” and other subsidies to expand and sustain their economic activities.

Mr. Charles Korang, the Chairman of the Sunyani Municipal branch of the Poultry Farmers Association raised the concerns in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) during a visit to his farm at Dumasua in the Sunyani West Municipality.

He said though interest on credit facilities from banks and other financial institutions was too much, the farmers had no other option than to depend on them, a situation he said was “stretching” the creditors.

As an association, Mr. Korang, also the Managing Director of the Krobea Farms, said the government could liaise with the executives and provided deserving farmers with “soft loans” and other incentives that would empower them to expand their activities and create more jobs for the people.

With soft loans and subsidies on concentrates, the poultry industry would not only be made more attractive for the unemployed youth, but also well positioned for the poultry farmers to improve productivity too.

Mr. Korang said he had more than 10,000 birds; however, added that the future of the local poultry industry remained bleak because the poultry farms of many of the members of the association were on the verge of collapse.

“We take less and pay more to the banks. They are stretching us too much and that is not auguring well for the growth and development of our businesses,” he stated.

Another key challenge confronting the poultry industry, Mr. Korang added, was lack of ready market and factories to process broilers and other poultry products and called on the government to do more and tackle that too.

The poultry sector, he indicated, had huge economic prospects, saying with huge investments the poultry value chain could fetch jobs for thousands of more people and help tackle the nation’s unemployment situation.

?Besides advancing national food security, Mr. Korang said the industry could also widen the nation’s foreign income earnings if the government invested in processing poultry products for export.