Selected commercial anchor poultry farmers in the Ashanti Re­gion are taking delivery of 40,000 day-old chicks each, which con­stitutes their first consignment of day-old chicks under the scheme.

This came to light during a two-day tour of the selected anchor farmers and other small holder farmers under the scheme at the weekend.

Speaking after the tour, FSRP’s Operations Manager, Philip Laryea, mentioned that the project would last for five years with $150 million World Bank support for Ghana.

He said 22 commercial poultry farmers have been selected across six regions (Ashanti, Bono, Cen­tral, Eastern, Greater Accra and Volta) to produce approximately 2 million broiler birds on a yearly basis.

To contribute to the MO­FA-FSRP’s mission to revamp the broiler industry and increase the rate of adoption of modern and improved climate–resilient poultry production, processing and mar­keting techniques.

He further explained that all farms selected for the phase one would be supported for three years with $12.5 million to pro­duce the 2 million birds in a year, adding that subsequent farmers that would be selected for the second phase would equally be supported.

Under the scheme, he said, each beneficiary would be receiving interest-free loans for inputs in the form 160, 000 day-old chicks and 180,000 kilograms of feed and vaccines in the first round of allocations.

They would also be granted training in best modern practices and climate-smart technologies within the poultry industry, and further be able to access matching grants up to $400,000 to procure equipment in order to support post-production processing and cold storage.

According to Mr Laryea, the first phase of the scheme started with three out of five anchor poultry farmers in Ashanti Re­gion namely: Rockland, Boris B. chicken and Darko farms, taking delivery of 40,000 each of day old chicks, adding that the rest were gearing up for business.

Mr Ricky Aboagye Poku, Poul­try Specialist with the MOFA, also indicated that annually govern­ment spent about $400 million to import poultry products and in a bid to stem the tide, introduced the FSRP scheme which was a wing of the Planting for Food and Jobs phase two, to revamp the poultry industry to reduce the import levels.

Additionally, He said rice, maize and soya had also been selected under the scheme to reduce their importation into the country all to enhance the poultry industry.

At a small holder Skwarb Farms at Tano Dumase in the Sekyere South District of Ashanti, Mr Sarpong Benedict, farm owner, who received some of the day old chicks, noted that he had been receiving support in the form of feeds and vaccines to grow his chicks and that he had been able to employ 10 workers, therefore he thanked the government for the project.

Mr Dominic Nzoley, General Manager of Rockland Farms, also indicated that as a result of the scheme, efforts were far advanced to expand their production with the construction of a new pro­cessing plant at Kumawu where the land has been acquired.

The West Africa Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP) is a World Bank funded programme which is promoted by ECOWAS for participating countries.

It is to strengthen food system risk management, improve the sustainability of the agricultural productive base and harmonise agricultural markets in the West African sub-region.

Other participating countries are Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Togo and Chad.