Agric Minister lauds FSRP poultry at Farmers’ Day

By Wisdom JONNY-NUEKPE

Minister for Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong has lauded the West African Food Systems Resilience Programme (FSRP) for meeting the project’s poultry production timeline and embarking on its maiden chicken road show at this year’s National Farmers Day Exhibition, dubbed Agrifest.

The FSRP Chicken Road Show” is to enable the Ghanaian public to sample Grown-in-Ghana broiler chicken.

Under the road show, selected beneficiary anchor farmers under FSRP grilled between 1000 and 2000 hygienic, nutritious and delicious locally bred chicken for sampling by sections of the public.

The five-day fair, which is hosted by MoFA, is an integral part of the National Farmers Day Celebration and forms part of activities to commemorate the events.

At the FSRP stand, the sector minister lauded the initiative and touted it as one of the surest way to augment domestic production and increasing it from the current five percent.

“We produce about five percent of poultry and the idea is to increase it in the next five years through this poultry intensification project which is part of the FSRP.

He said through the FSRP, Ghana is course to producing enough to feed the domestic market and also for export, in the next five years.

The minister said made in Ghana chicken is healthy and trusted, adding, “the secret is that, the Ministry ensures the right dosage of vaccines and appropriate feeds are used especially in projects such as the FSRP poultry programme”.

“Due to standards at MoFA, we do not have lots of additives in locally produced chickens, and that helps to store for long compared to the quality of imported chicken, which sometimes can be in the chain for 10 to 15 years” he said.

At the event, the FSRP stand facilitated and offered to give the public a free taste of grilled chicken for patrons who visited the stand.

Key dignitaries who accompanied the Minister were, Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Simon Osei-Mensah and other officials from the FSRP.

The West Africa Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP) – a World Bank project under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA).

The MOFA – FSRP Poultry Intensification Scheme (PIS)

The MoFA – FSRP is implementing the PIS, aimed at revamping the local broiler industry. An amount of US$12.5m has been set aside from the World Bank funding for implementation of the FSRP to fund the PIS over a 5-year period.

Under the scheme, commercial anchor farmers and their smallholders are receiving support to produce, process and market at least two million birds annually over the next five (5) years.

Beneficiaries are receiving input credit in the form of day-old chicks, feed supplies, as well as supplies of vaccines. They are also being trained in best modern practices and climate-smart technologies within the poultry industry.

They will further be able to access matching grants to procure equipment to support post-production processing and cold storage equipment/ infrastructure.

The ‘FSRP Chicken Road Show’ therefore forms part of the implementation activities of the MOFA – FSRP Poultry Intensification Scheme to enable Ghanaians sample healthy, hygienic and affordable Grown-in-Ghana broiler birds.

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