Victor Oppon Ajay of the Ghana National Poultry Farmers Association (GNP-FA) called on the government to impose high tariffs on imports of poultry products, including frozen chicken.

This would help encourage local production while discouraging individuals from importing poultry products, he said.

Adjei called in an exclusive interview with The Ghana Times over the weekend about the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) decision last month to withdraw foreign currency support for certain food products, including poultry.

Ajay said while he applauds the BoG for making decisions that help improve local businesses, such decisions alone are problematic as importers have different options for receiving import funds.

Adjei also lamented the challenges facing the poultry industry. The high cost of poultry feed throughout the year and the potential for complete collapse have pushed many poultry farmers out of the industry.

Due to this, poultry farmers are incurring debt and it has become critical that most of them have sold their birds but are not ready to restock the farms with 70 per cent venturing into fishing,” Mr Adjei added.

Read: 80% of poultry companies in Ghana go out of business