President for the Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers, Mr. Victor Oppong has in an interview with the media regretted that while every country provides employment opportunities for its citizenry, Ghana in its case rather create jobs for foreigners through poultry importation into our country.
Mr. Oppong who expressed these sentiments at the first Hungary-Ghana Agricultural Forum in Accra said importing and patronizing poultry products into the country only created more employment opportunities for foreign countries at the expense of Ghanaians.
“In the case of Ghana, Jobs have been made available for foreigners since they are given more room to produce more poultry and most Ghanaian youths are jobless,” He lamented.
He extolled poultry farming as a very lucrative business with a lot of value chain with the potential of providing job opportunities.
“Poultry farming is very lucrative business which if given more attention can create a million jobs for the youth in the country since it has a lot of value chain. Crop farmers grow their maize and other cereals which fall in line with the value chain because their products are used in the preparation of feed for the birds,” he said.
The president of the poultry farmers cautioned that until all measures were put in place to ensure that the poultry industry becomes attractive and end all forms of importation of frozen chicken, the country’s youth will remain unemployed.
He also emphasized on recent media publications where some importers imported spoiled chicken into the country which he called “one in a million risks in the importation of foods from other countries.”
He recounted several unsuccessful efforts made by the poultry industry under successive governments to end the menace of importation of poultry products into the country, a call they won’t relent on.
The call also falls in line with their advocacy for the consumption of ‘made in Ghana chicken’ which will also create more jobs since crop farmers will be compelled to produce more since about 80% of their products will be used in the production of feeds for the birds.
He expressed hope that maize, sorghum and other cereals to be produced under the government’s initiative of ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ can be sold to the poultry industry to be used as feeds.
Mr. Oppong therefore called on government to provide stringent measures to end the importation of frozen chicken to help Ghanaian poultry farmers to produce quality and wholesome chicken for consumption.
Source: Joyce Bedeley/ritefmonline.org/jbedeley@gmail.com
