Ghana currently imports 200,000 metric tonnes of broiler chicken annually for local consumption.
A comprehensive project, which was rolled out in 2014 to ensure that poultry farmers would be supported to produce broiler chicken to stop the mass importation, has hit the snag.
The previous NDC administration failed to reimburse huge amount of money that Boris B Farm and Veterinary Supplies Ghana Ltd (BBFVS) injected into the project.
This came to light during the official launch of three products- Varium, Neo Prime and Poultry Guard, which are specially designed to help improve the production of chicken and pigs by Ghanaian farmers.
Boris Baidoo, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BBFVS, who threw more light on the abandoned Broiler Revitalization Project, said some farmers approached him for monetary support in the government’s Boiler Revitalization Project in 2014, which he obliged.
According to him, the Broiler Revitalization Project ideally was to be funded by EDAIF but the funds delayed, hence the farmers’ decision to approach him for support for later reimbursement.
Mr. Baidoo, nicknamed ‘Boris B’, noted that he injected over GH¢8 million into the project with the hope that government would reimburse him when the project’s total amount of GH¢39.5 million from EDAIF eventually arrives.
He said the project was initially being executed in the Ashanti Region with 12 poultry farmers, who were supposed to produce one million broiler chickens for sale under the strict supervision of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
Mr. Baidoo, who was dejected, noted that about GH¢2 million was initially refunded to him by the Agric Ministry following the sale of 300,000 broiler chickens that the 12 farmers produced.
He said since then, officials of the past administration frustrated him in the payment of the remaining GH¢6 million, which has now increased to about GHC9 million.
Mr. Baidoo said that the fantastic Broiler Revitalization Project had stalled because of the non-payment of the money.
He expressed hope that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration would take over the project so that the poultry farm industry would provide a ready market for maize, rice and soghum in the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs policy.
Touching on the products which were launched in Kumasi Wednesday, Mr. Baidoo encouraged poultry farmers to patronize them since they have been specially made to help them rear pigs and chicken.
Ashraf Elsis, Amlan International, Regional Manager of Middle East and North Africa, producers of Varium, indicated that the product was developed in six years of thorough research, noting that it would help in the production of healthy chicken.
Source: dailyguideafrica.com
