We’ll be poultry self-sufficient in 4 yrs — Agric Minister projects

Ghana is set to be poultry self-sufficient by 2029, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, has estimated.

According to him, the target of government, per the timelines of the Poultry Industry Revitalisation Initiative under the Feed Ghana Programme, is to be 12 per cent sufficient in 2025, 25 per cent in 2026, 48 per cent in 2027, 76 per cent in 2028 and 104 per cent in 2029.

“But if you look at the enthusiasm that has greeted the poultry revitalisation programme following the launch of the Nkoko Nkitinkiti, we are likely to beat our target,” Mr Opoku, MP, Asunafo South, said.

He made this projection when he took his turn at the Government Accountability Series at the Presidency in Accra on Monday.

The need to be poultry self-sufficient, Mr Opoku said had become more urgent than ever in order to ease the food import bill, create jobs in the sector and ensure national food sovereignty. In 2024 for instance, the minister said Ghana spent US$400 million to import poultry and poultry products.

To this end, he said government was vigorously working to implement the remaining two phases of the poultry revitalisation programme — poultry farm to table initiative, which targets 50 anchor farmers, and the poultry intensification programme, which targets 500 small to medium scale poultry farmers to support the recently launched Nkoko Nkitinkiti initiative.

“This targeted interventions seek to uplift vulnerable communities, particularly women-headed households, by enabling them to contribute meaningfully to local food production while improving nutrition and income security at the grassroots level,” he said.

To ensure an effective value chain, Eric Opoku said government was set to establish a poultry processing factory in Bechem in the Bono Region.

“The procurement processes for the factory have been completed, and the sod cutting ceremony will be performed this coming Thursday, November 27, 2025, by President John Dramani Mahama,” he stated.

Collectively, Eric Opoku said the poultry-focused interventions represented a coordinated national effort to reduce Ghana’s reliance on imported poultry products, create sustainable employment opportunities for youth and women, improve access to affordable, protein-rich food, and strengthen resilience across the domestic poultry value chain.

“The Ministry remains fully committed to empowering both large-scale poultry enterprises and smallholder farmers to reclaim the domestic poultry market and secure Ghana’s food future,” he emphasized.

Agric, the minister said must no longer be seen as a way of life, but as a business — a strategic growth sector that will drive employment, industrialisation, and food sovereignty for Ghana.

“We are fully aware that the mandate we hold is not just administrative — it is generational. It is about transforming the fortunes of our farmers, empowering the youth, reducing our import dependency, and ensuring that every Ghanaian child, regardless of where they are born, can access nutritious, affordable and locally grown food,” he stressed.

By Julius Yao Petetsi

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