Government will revive poultry industry – Dr Bissiw

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture is putting in place modalities to resuscitate the livestock and poultry industry in the country.
To this end, the Ministry has cut down on poultry import to save the local industry from collapsing and has embarked on pilot Poultry Broiler Project (PBP) throughout the 10 regions to identify farmers who would feed the market.
Dr Hannah Bissiw, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, said this when she inspected Jonny’s Food and Meat Complex (J’FARMCO), an abattoir, cold store, warehouse and wholesale of agricultural commodities at Madina .

She said the PBP project was President John Mahama’s vision to revamp the poultry industry and that all stakeholders in agriculture were involved and that 100 poultry farmers would be selected to start the pilot programme.
Dr Bissiw described the J’FARMCO facility as good and advised Ghanaians to patronize it and stop buying meat products from the wayside to protect themselves from contracting diseases.
She urged the management to engage the technical assistance from the Standard Board to guide them to meet the necessary requirements so that they could get the accreditation.

The Minister said the ministry would partner with stakeholders in agriculture and create the right environment for them to operate.
Mr John Ata Agyekum, Chief Executive of J’FARMCO, said their target was to set the European standard in Ghana and that with the little support from the government they would achieve their goal.
He said by time the facility, which could employ about 200 to 300 workers, would be inaugurated everything would be in place to serve Ghanaians good and hygienic products.
Mr Kojo Wilson, Operations Director said the company needed loans and grants with favourable terms to enable them complete the complex and appealed for government assistance.

Source: GNA