[ 2016-11-04 ]

Poultry farmers ‘cry’ over neglect
Some stakeholders in the livestock subsector of
the Agriculture sector have raised concerns of an
imminent collapse if measures are not put in place
to address challenges facing it.

According to them, the poultry industry for
instance risks going down if farmers are not
protected from the adverse effects of unstable
prices.

The Agriculture sector in Ghana which comprises
crop production and livestock employs about 43
percent of the population, particularly those
living in the hinterlands — on formal and
informal basis.

Even though livestock agriculture is widespread in
Ghana, it is on a low scale with pockets of
poultry, cattle rearing, and grass cutter rearing,
among others.

Egg production facing challenges

But players in the poultry industry say egg
production which is a key production area under
poultry faces a major threat.

Speaking to Citi Business News, the Chairman of
the Association of Poultry Farmers in Ghana,
Victor Oppong Adjei attributed the threat to
unstable prices.

According to him,  the situation has left many
farmers in debt due to losses.
He argued that the matter if not addressed soon,
will have dire consequences on the industry.
“I think if we all have a fixed price it’s
going to help the industry because now if you go
to the farm one egg is somehow even less than
fifty pesewas but we have heard that they are
selling some at even one cedi and others so we
have  taken note of what we’ve just heard and
we are working out to see if we can control the
prices of eggs,” he hinted.

Mode of transport pushes price

Blaming some Middle men and women for the increase
in the price, Mr. Adjei explained that the added
cost is the reason why the prices are surging.
Checks by Citi Business News showed that retailers
are compelled to add extra cost to the price due
to the delicate procedures required in
transporting the product.

“You know how important it is to handle eggs
with care. So you must be careful in the
transportation and that means extra cost to
transport,” a retailer narrated.

“The middle men go for the eggs from the
farmers. We then go and buy it from them. We sell
the fried eggs for one cedi and the fresh ones for
seventy pesewas,” another retailer said.

Another intimated, “A crate of eggs is sold for
seventeen cedis, sixteen cedis or fifteen cedis
depending on the size of the eggs. The biggest
size of eggs which is sold for seventeen cedis is
termed as G1’’

Some recommendations

Meanwhile, Mr. Adjei, stated that it is inperative
for  players in the industry to come together to
deal with the issue.

“As stakeholders , we must come together; it’s
always a proper economic management concept  that
will help the poultry farmers to grow so that if
you have the banks ready to give loans to farmers
we can grow this,” he said.

He added, ‘it is not like the government trying
to give money to farmers but we need systems in
place that will guarantee the poultry farmer and
business people in the country access to loans and
the cost of that borrowing  should be
manageable”.

Source - citibsinessnews.com

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