The Poultry Farmers Association of Ghana has described the first phase of the government’s Nkoko Nkitinkiti programme as an “abysmal failure,” warning that the second phase could perform even worse if implementation challenges are not addressed.
Chief Executive Officer of the association, Ali Mohammed, made the remarks in an interview with Citi News following comments by the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, before Parliament’s Assurances Committee on Thursday, July 9, that some beneficiaries of the programme consumed the birds they received instead of rearing them for commercial production.
According to Ali Mohammed, although the association welcomed the policy and engaged the government during its design stage, the implementation of the first phase fell far short of expectations.
He said many beneficiaries received birds without adequate training on poultry management, while delays in the supply of feed led to high mortality rates.
“In some instances, the birds were distributed, but the feed did not arrive for several weeks. Some of the birds died, and the mortality rate in the first listing was about 50 percent,” he said.
Ali Mohammed also claimed that some birds that survived failed to reach market weight within the expected period, making them difficult to sell.
He urged the government to draw on the expertise of industry players as it rolls out the second phase of the programme, expressing the association’s readiness to provide technical support to improve implementation.
