Poultry farmers in the country are appealing to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufu-Addo to urgently sack the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto for his failure to sustain the local poultry industry from slumping.
Mr Lawrence Amartey, Executive Secretary of Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers, is livid at the Agric Minister’s posture and his total neglect of the poultry industry adding that the industry is now on ‘life support’ unit.
Expressing his dissatisfaction on Plan B FM ‘Ebaanosen’ with Bohyeba Afriyie, Mr Amartey stated that there is an urgent need to address the pressing issues such as the continuous importation of frozen chicken, rising cost of production emanating from the ever-rising poultry feed inputs like maize, soy and wheat bran among things.
He stated that the raw materials used in preparing the feed has surged by over 100% “There was a major problem with the prices of the raw materials especially maize and soybean. Maize for instance went up by 100% and then wheat and soyabean all went up” he said.
“The poultry industry can break even at a maximum maize price of Gh₵60 per 50kg bag and soya beans at Gh₵140 per 50 kg bag. With the current prices of maize selling between Gh₵130 – Gh₵150 per 50kg bag and soya beans at Gh₵220 per 50kg bag, the additional costs are eroding the working capital of the poultry farmers”
He further revealed that, the minister for Agriculture has disobeyed the president’s directives to them to save the local poultry industry.
“After months of a fruitful discussion with the President at the Jubilee House, we have not had the opportunity to meet these ministers who were instructed by the President to find a lasting solution to the numerous challenges confronting the Farmers. The Agric Minister has to be sacked because he has failed completely. Poultry Farmers in the country are struggling to get maize to feed their birds due to scarcity of maize in the country
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