Stakeholders in the agricultural sector have called for a bold, practical, and investment-driven national poultry master plan to transform the industry and reduce the country’s heavy reliance on imports.

Speaking at the Southern Zone edition of the Ghana Poultry Master Plan Stakeholders’ Dialogue in Accra yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Agri-Impact Limited, Dr Daniel Fahene Acquaye, stressed the need to move beyond repetitive policy frameworks that often failed to deliver meaningful results.

The dialogue forms part of a nationwide process to develop a data-driven poultry sector master plan to boost local production, enhance competitiveness and create jobs.

The initiative is being led by the Animal Production Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in collaboration with Agri-Impact Limited and the Mastercard Foundation under the Harnessing Agricultural Productivity and Prosperity for Youth (HAPPY) Programme.

Dr Acquaye expressed concern over Ghana’s declining poultry self-sufficiency, noting that the country, which once produced about 80 per cent of its poultry needs, now produces barely 10 per cent, with imports accounting for nearly 90 per cent of consumption.

“How can we continue to import a product that takes less than two months to produce?” he questioned, pointing to the untapped potential within the local poultry industry.

He attributed the decline to trade liberalisation and structural challenges, including high feed costs, limited processing capacity, weak financing systems, and fragmentation across the value chain.

He explained that the proposed poultry master plan was being designed to address these bottlenecks holistically.

The plan, he said, would go beyond production to target key investment areas such as feed mills, hatcheries, breeder farms, veterinary services, processing, and distribution.

He also highlighted the importance of integrated financing, indicating that current systems often supported only segments of the value chain, limiting efficiency and growth.

Dr Acquaye cautioned that although several policies had been developed over the years, many had not translated into real sector transformation, but expressed optimism that the new plan would deliberately address entrenched structural challenges.

He outlined four priorities, namely tackling systemic constraints, promoting practical and innovative solutions, attracting public and private investment, and ensuring inclusivity, particularly for women and vulnerable groups.

Challenges

Delivering the keynote address on behalf of the Minister of Food and Agriculture, the Chief Technical Advisor to the minister, Kwasi Etu-Bonde, acknowledged persistent challenges such as high feed costs, limited access to quality day-old chicks, inadequate cold-chain infrastructure, and fragmented markets.

He said that despite the government’s interventions, Ghana had continued to experience a mismatch between domestic supply and demand, leading to heavy poultry imports that strained the economy and limited job creation.

Mr Etu-Bonde said the national poultry master plan would provide a coordinated framework aligning policy, investment, and implementation across the value chain.

He highlighted interventions under the poultry revitalisation agenda, including the “Poultry Farm-to-Table” initiative, support for small and medium-scale farmers, and the Nkoko Nketenkete programme for households.

He revealed that the government aimed to produce about 12 million birds annually through these initiatives.

“Our goal is to move to a well-linked value chain that can meet at least 50 per cent of national poultry demand within the next three years,” he said.

The Deputy Director of the Animal Production Directorate, Dr Abdul Razak Okine, emphasised that stakeholder consultations were critical in shaping a practical road map, adding that inputs from across the country would be consolidated into a final master plan reflecting industry realities.