Ghana: Imports more threatening than bird flu

The government has been asked to increase its support and protection to local farmers to help keep them in business and to aid the national economy.

The report claims that the situation is due to an upsurge of chicken parts that have flooded the local markets from abroad, and also fuelled by a lack of willpower from successive governments to assist peasant farmers.

The Food First Information and Action Network (FIAN) and Social Enterprise Development Foundation (SEND Foundation) of West Africa, presented the report, and were supported by the National Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana.

Ute Hausmann of FIAN International said the situation has caused most poultry farmers to move out of broiler production and concentrate on producing eggs, which does not enable them an all-year round income.

“The move-away from the production of broilers was mainly due to the difficulty of accessing markets and the low profits as a result of low producer prices and rising costs of inputs”, she said, adding that the importation of chicken parts into the country is more threatening to farmers than the scare of bird flu.

She accused the government of failing to increase the level of import tariffs, although it has been aware that, for several years, the income of poultry farmers is severely threatened by cheap imports.