2 weeks ago
10 ARTICLE AD
The West Africa Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP) is to offer free grilled-chicken sampling at this year’s Farmers’ Day Exhibition taking place at the Efua Sutherland Park in Accra.
Dubbed: “Chicken Road Show” the event would enable the Ghanaian public to sample grown-in- Ghana broiler chicken during the week-long event.
Under the road show, selected beneficiary anchor farmers under FSRP would be grilling between 1,000 to 2,000 hygienic, nutritious and delicious locally bred chicken for sampling by sections of the public.
The “FSRP is a World Bank project under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and forms part of its Poultry Intensification Scheme aimed at making Ghana poultry self-sufficient by 2026,” the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture in Charge of Crops, Mr Yao Frimpong Addo, has stated after visiting the sampling pavilion on Monday.
He indicated that the effective implementation of the Grown- In-Ghana Broiler programme would greatly reduce the country’s dependence on imported poultry as well as create 1,000s of jobs for the poultry farmers under the value chain.
Mr Addo, who is also the Chair of the 40th National Farmers’ Day AGRIFEST 2024, said every necessary action was being taken to combat the devastating effects of climate change and urged the citizenry to take advantage of the FSRP initiative and be part of the country’s history making process in the poultry sector.
The Ashanti Regional Chair of the Ghana Poultry Farmers Association, Dr Boris Baidoo, who termed the Ghana Grown Chicken “Halal,” said the product would be accepted among all religions in the country, he told the Ghanaian Times.
He indicated that his out grower scheme would within the next two years produce about 200 million healthy broilers for public consumption to reduce the huge amount spent on imported frozen chicken, adding, “We have the capacity and with the financial support from the World Bank we could achieve that target.”
The Agri Business Officer of FSRP, Margaret Davids Opoku Agyeman, noted that the Monday sampling started at 9: 00 a.m. with dignitaries including government officials, members of the Diplomatic Corps, while Public Servants, Civil and Local Government Staff will visit the stand at 2:00 p.m.
She said security personnel, the media, among others, would have theirs on Tuesday, schools on Wednesday and the public on Thursday, at 2:00 p.m. each day at the FSRP grilling stand.
“The FSRP Chicken Road Show” will be replicated in other regions immediately after the Farmers’ Day celebrations, she added.
Ms Agyeman noted that as at 2021, imports of chicken and its products was in excess of $300 million, therefore, the MoFA – FSRP Poultry Intensification Scheme would revamp the local broiler industry as an amount of $12.5m has been set aside from the World Bank for implementation of the programme over a five-year period.
“Under the scheme, commercial anchor farmers and their smallholders would receive support to produce, process and market at least two million birds annually over the next five years and would also receive inputs credit in the form of day-old chicks, feed supplies, as well as supplies of vaccines as well as being trained in best modern practices and climate-smart technologies within the poultry industry, access to matching grants to procure equipment to support post-production processing and cold storage equipment”, she added.
BY LAWRENCE VOMAFA-AKPALU
