Public policy think tank, IMANI Africa, is sounding an alarm bell that Ghana’s much-anticipated Nkoko Nkitinkiti Programme is set to create huge waste impact if the government does not match production with adequate processing and cold-chain infrastructure.
Recent data reveal that Ghana currently imports over 80% of its poultry, costing the country more than $300 million annually.
To address this challenge, the government, through the Nkoko Nkitinkiti, is set to distribute 3 million birds nationwide. The initiative is scheduled to begin this month. The programme is designed to support commercial, medium-scale, and local poultry farmers to boost production.
However, IMANI argues that focusing solely on production will not solve Ghana’s poultry deficit. The think tank explained that while increased poultry production could create jobs, reduce imports, and enhance food security, these benefits will evaporate without a parallel investment in processing plants, cold storage, and distribution systems.
According to IMANI, the absence of such infrastructure to complement the high production could lead to gluts and waste, unstable market prices. Such a situation is likely to discourage farmers and repeat the same cycle that has kept Ghana dependent on imported chicken.
“While the programme promises to boost domestic production, there is a critical dimension that cannot be overlooked: large-scale poultry production must go hand in hand with processing and cold-chain infrastructure,” IMANI’s analysis admitted.
It added that, “Without processing capacity, the increased output risks going to waste, prices could fluctuate wildly, and the broader goal of building a sustainable poultry sector would be undermined.”
For IMANI, producing millions of birds without investing in industrial-scale processing is like building a factory with no power to run the machines.
Ghana to truly increase its poultry economy, but the think tank insists, every bird produced must have a processing plan, and every processor must have a consistent supply. Only then, it says, can the country solve its poultry importation challenges.
