Poultry farmers in the country have called on the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to evolve measures to halt the illegal exportation of soybean and other grains from the country.
According to a member of the Poultry Farmers Association, Yiadom Boakye, who spoke on behalf of the Association, the illegal exportation of grains is having a negative effect on the poultry industry.
He explained that the development has led to the unavailability of grains which are essential in preparing feed for their poultry.
“It is an open secret now that most of the grains produced in Ghana which are highly subsidised by the government, especially corn and soybean are exported outside the country.
“For the poultry industry, we use the byproducts of the soybean for our poultry feed, but then if the main soybean is exported outside the country, then we would have to import the byproduct which comes in at a higher price,” he said.
Mr. Boakye disclosed that already, 50% of poultry farms have collapsed within a year due to this, and expressed worry that more businesses could run down if nothing is done about the situation.
“The Ghana Poultry industry is on the verge of collapse. If people in authority do not take drastic measures to end this, by a year’s time, we’ll have less than 10 percent of poultry farms operating, because about half of the poultry farms operating last year, have already collapsed,” he said.
Posted by: Emmanuel Romeo Tetteh
