Ghana: Why is MoFA, through the World Bank-sponsored FSRP injecting US$12m into the poultry industry and why should you care?

By Earl Ankrah/the World Bank/MoFA Ghanaians have an over-the-top appetite for chicken: their hot chicken light soups or irresistible chicken stews and gravies; their globally acclaimed jollof rice – with chicken as an integral part of the whole scheme; and the eye-popping, xtra-spicy, xtra-crispy chicken barbecues (grilled or fried) – at all manner of occasions and locations. Yet this tongue-flapping appetite has not ignited enough excitement among local meat industry players to cash in. The reason has forever been about fierce competition from imported poultry, whose low prices and well-thought-out packaging (of frozen processed birds) make them outsell the homegrown lot. Another reason is the absence of major capital injection into the poultry industry. These “excuses” indeed are not far from the truth. But then, why should the Ghanaian consumer care? All that matters is that there is, and there shall always be Chicken for The People. Parties are poppin’! Mouths are watering – ...