President John Dramani Mahama has officially launched the “Nkoko Nketenkete” initiative, a flagship component of the government’s Feed Ghana Programme, aimed at revitalising the country’s poultry sector and promoting self-sufficiency in local chicken production.

Speaking at the launch, President Mahama lamented that Ghana spent over $350 million on poultry imports in 2023, describing the situation as unsustainable.

He said the new initiative seeks to reverse this trend by empowering local farmers to produce, process, and consume home-grown chicken, thereby restoring national pride in Ghana’s agricultural capacity.

The President announced that the government’s long-term goal is to increase poultry self-sufficiency from the current 12 percent to over 75 percent by 2028, with policies being rolled out to drastically reduce poultry imports.

Under the Feed Ghana Programme, he explained, the government is implementing a three-pronged strategy to strengthen the poultry value chain—from the household level to large-scale commercial production.

As part of this, 50 anchored farmers have been carefully selected nationwide.

Each will receive 80,000 poultry birds, housing facilities, logistics, and technical assistance, with a combined production target of 4 million birds.

Additionally, through the Food Systems Resilience Programme, 500 small and medium-scale poultry farmers across all regions are being supported to produce another 3 million birds.

For the Nkoko Nketenkete initiative itself, President Mahama revealed that the government will distribute 3 million poultry birds across all 276 constituencies, with each constituency receiving 10,000 birds.

The programme will benefit 60,000 households, each receiving 50 birds, feed support, and technical guidance to ensure project sustainability.

He noted that the initiative has already been piloted in 13 districts, benefiting 13,000 poultry farmers, and announced plans to construct a modern poultry processing factory in Bechem.

The facility will serve as a ready market for small and medium-scale producers across the Ashanti, Bono, and Bono East Regions.

President Mahama urged Ghanaians to embrace the initiative, stressing that national transformation begins with supporting local industries.

“Let us take pride in producing what we eat and eating what we produce,” he said.

For his part, Mr Eric Opoku, Minister for Food and Agriculture, underscored the urgency of revitalising the poultry industry. He revealed that Ghana currently imports about 324,000 tonnes of poultry annually, costing between $300 million and $400 million, while local production stands at only 15,000 tonnes.

The Minister encouraged citizens to patronise locally produced chicken to create jobs, save foreign exchange, and strengthen the economy.

He further urged households to engage in backyard poultry farming and actively participate in the Nkoko Nketenkete initiative to boost domestic production and ensure food security.