President John Dramani Mahama says the government has set a target to raise Ghana’s poultry self-sufficiency from the current 12 per cent to more than 75 per cent by 2028 as part of a national effort to reduce dependence on imports and boost local production.
He made the announcement at the launch of the Nkoko Nkitinkiti Household and Backyard Poultry Production Initiative at the Jubilee Park in Kumasi on Wednesday, November 12, 2025.
President Mahama said the initiative forms part of the broader Feed Ghana Programme and the National Plan for Agricultural Transformation, Food Sovereignty, and Shared Prosperity.
He explained that the Nkoko Nkitinkiti project is a flagship component of the Poultry Industry Revitalisation Programme aimed at restoring food self-sufficiency, strengthening household resilience, and creating livelihoods for women, youth, and vulnerable families.
Under the initiative, the government will distribute three million birds across all 276 constituencies, with each constituency receiving 10,000 birds to benefit about 60,000 households nationwide.
Each household, Mr Mahama said, will receive 50 birds, feed support, and technical guidance to help sustain production.
“The Nkoko Nkitinkiti initiative is more than a government project. It is a national movement and a bold step towards restoring food self-sufficiency,” he said.
The President explained that before the nationwide rollout, the project was piloted in 13 districts, benefiting 13,000 farmers.
The pilot, he said, showed that backyard poultry production could promote better nutrition, job creation, and local agribusiness.
Mr Mahama noted that Ghana spent more than US$350 million importing poultry products in 2023, describing it as a drain on foreign exchange and a missed opportunity for local farmers and entrepreneurs.
To support production and marketing, he announced that government, through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, would establish a modern poultry processing factory in Bechem in the Bono Region.
Procurement processes, he said, were already underway, and once completed, the facility would serve farmers in the Bono, Ashanti, and Bono East regions.
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