The chairman of the Ashanti Regional Poultry Farmers Association, Dr. Boris Baidoo has hit back at suggestion that Ghanaians are likely to celebrate this year’s Christmas with shortage of poultry products because importers of the product have encountered challenges in getting chicken imported into the country early enough for the yuletide.
In an exclusive interview with Plan-B FM, Dr. Baidoo, owner of Boris B Poultry Farm in Ashanti region, called off the bluff of persons throwing that suggestion round and added that the local poultry industry has enough to meet the demands of Ghanaians ahead of Christmas.
Answering questions on what he makes of the report that because of a delay in getting imported chicken into the country and its expected impact on Ghanaians during the festive; Dr. Baido noted that it was unfortunate that persons who are in the business of importing poultry products into the country are engaged in what he termed as propaganda aimed at deliberately collapsing the local industry.
He debunked the claim and quickly pointed out that it is never true that the local poultry industry is not able to provide enough to meet the demands of Ghanaians. According to him it was high time some persons are told the truth. “The truth is that for a very long time, persons who import poultry products into the country have always portrayed the picture to look like we the local poultry producers are not able to produce enough. This is completely false and not true that we are unable to meet the demands of our people,” Dr. Baidoo remarked.
He mentioned that members of the association and other local poultry farmers have remained quiet for some time over the activities of these importers who are always seeking to collapse the local industry. He further mentioned that this time round the story will be different if any of those persons try to engage in acts which seek to collapse the local industry.
Cautioning persons whose deliberate actions have the tendencies to collapse the local poultry industry, to desist from doing that, he stated that the association would not hesitate to only mention names but will also do everything legal to resist such moves.
Touching on the health benefits of consuming local poultry products, Dr. Baidoo explained that they are fresh and healthy for the public as compared to the imported products which are sometimes stored for a very long time before their arrival into the country. “Consider our products which most of the time take three days to one week to get cleared from the market for consumption as compared to similar imported products which have been stored for certain period of time and then take between 30 to 60 days to arrive in the country,” he stated and quizzed which of the two should be consumed by Ghanaians if they were looking for fresh and healthy chicken products to consume?
He added that what the local poultry industry needs to be able to do much more than it is currently doing, is the support of all especially at government level where existing policies put in place to support them are executed to the latter . “The country must strategically position the local poultry industry at a vantage point where all of its products are patronized by Ghanaians. We must understand that in doing so we are also creating jobs because the poultry farmers will require more hands to produce more for Ghanaians to consume.”
Concluding, Dr. Baidoo commented that recently President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced a policy which is supposed to aid the growth of the local poultry industry and appealed to persons tasked with its implementation to do well to put in place the necessary structures to further develop the local industry.
“We have had situation in the past where Ghanaians who were supposed to work to support the local poultry industry ended up deliberately collapsing it. This time round we will not take it kindly if anyone does that. We will resist it legally and ensure that the right thing is done.” Dr. Baidoo remarked bringing his interview with Tema Community base radio station, Plan-B FM to an end.
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