The first batch of broiler birds produced under the Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is ready and being processed for the market.

During the FSRP team’s visit to various beneficiary commercial anchor farms and processing facilities in the Ashanti region, the chickens were being processed and packaged for the consumption market.

The monitoring team, among others, checked adherence to laid-down industrial standards like feed quality, vaccinations, bio-security requirements, required weights, and general healthcare of the birds.

The monitoring team comprised officials of the Animal Production Directorate (APD), the Veterinary Services Department (VSD), and the West Africa Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP).

The farmers commended the programme for its input in cutting down the cost of production and providing an opportunity for them to penetrate the market.

The Chairman of the Ashanti Regional Poultry Farmers Association and the CEO of Boris B Group of Companies, Dr. Boris Baidoo, indicated that “FSRP has been very instrumental in everything that we are doing, but if we have to put every cost on them, that’s not going to help, so we need other interventions from the government.”

The Managing Director of Darko Farms, Samuel Darko, added “The capacity is there; we can produce. All poultry farmers here can produce, but because there is no space for them to market, that is why nobody is getting into the market.

“But with the FSRP in there, FSRP is supporting partially on the feed and day-old chicks, which is adversely bringing down the cost of production, which would help us to penetrate the market.”

Edith Wheatland Akorsah, CEO of Rockland Farm, also mentioned that “The waivers they used to give to import of poultry things that we cannot acquire in the country have been taken off, so we are pleading with the government if they can bring the waiver back to revive the poultry industry because as I’m talking to you now, if not for the FSRP project that came on, we have about 80 percent of poultry that have collapsed.”

The MOFA-FSRP Poultry Intensification Scheme is being run in phases under World Bank funding, with each beneficiary receiving input credit in the form of about one hundred and sixty thousand (160,000) day-old chicks, one hundred and eighty thousand (180,000) kilograms of feed, as well as supplies of vaccines.

“The beneficiaries are also being trained in best modern practices and climate-smart technologies within the poultry industry. They will further be able to access matching grants to procure equipment to support post-production processing and cold storage. The scheme targets the production of approximately 2 million broiler birds on a yearly basis under a $12.5 million World Bank facility.

Under the scheme, eighteen (18) commercial anchor farmers and their out-growers nationwide are being supported to produce, process, and market 2 million birds annually over the next three years.

The West Africa Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP) is a World Bank-funded programme promoted by ECOWAS for participating countries. It aims at strengthening food system risk management, improving the sustainability of the agricultural productive base, and harmonizing agricultural markets in the West African sub-region.

The Project Coordinator of the Food System Resilience Program, Osei Owusu Agyeman, and the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Animal Production Directorate, Dr. Abdul Razak Okine, shared insights about efforts to support the poultry industry and prevent food insecurity.

“In our agricultural value chain, we don’t have sustainable businesses; they die, and somebody revives new. The key is to make sure that at every aspect of the value chain, we build businesses that can be sustained and be resilient enough to be able to withstand the global shocks, so that is our focus now,” the Project Coordinator of the Food System Resilience Program (FSRP), Osei Owusu Agyeman, bemoaned.

The Deputy Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Animal Production Directorate, Dr. Abdul Razak Okine, also gave highlights of the Ministry’s target.

“This year, the ministry, under the PFJ 2.0, is targeting around 18,000,000 broiler birds. Now, the FSRP, working with the farmers, is producing a part of this 18,000,000. So they are producing two million of these birds, the broiler birds, and we expect that by the end of the year, what the ministry is able to produce, together with other little bits and pieces of what others are providing, we will be able to meet the target that we set for ourselves. In general, what we are looking at is that within the five years, we are expecting to reach national self-sufficiency in broiler production.”

In the Ashanti region, six commercial anchor farmers are benefiting from the Food System Resilience Program. Out of the six farms, three farms received delivery of 130,000 day-old chicks in the first week of June, which are now matured and being processed for the market.

Asamoah and Yamoah Farm also received their first consignment of 17,000 day-old chicks under the program.

Available data shows that Ghana consumes approximately 300,000 metric tonnes of poultry meat annually. However, only 5% of this is produced locally, with 95% imported from other countries.