Tamale, July 28, GNA -The Northern Regional Poultry Farmers Association has called on the government to come out with a policy framework to safeguard the poultry industry.
It said there was the need for a policy to help reduce the cost of production in the poultry industry to contribute meaningfully to the socio-economic development of the country.
This was contained in a statement issued and signed by Mr George Dassah, Chairman of Northern Regional Poultry Farmers Association and copied to Ghana News Agency in Tamale.
The statement said, “there are many poultry structures that are idling simply because farmers have folded up due to high cost of inputs that has and was still adversely affecting the industry.”
It said there were several bottlenecks hampering the development of the industry including the high cost of inputs, unbridled importation of frozen chicken due to trade liberalisation, and the incidence of some poultry diseases like the bird flu amongst others.
It called on stakeholders to collaborate with the government to reduce the cost of credit for the industry as well as take steps to reduce the importation of frozen chicken.
It said the reduction in importation would retain much of foreign exchange, which would automatically strengthen the country’s currency.
The statement said this would also create more jobs as well as improve the health status of the citizenry as they consumed local chicken.
GNA