Ghana spends roughly US$350 million every year importing poultry products, a dependency the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, says government is now working to reverse through an expanding backyard and commercial poultry programme built around a new processing centre at Bechem.
Speaking in an interview, the Minister laid out how the household-level rollout of the Nkoko Nkitinkiti poultry initiative is progressing, why the innovation-driven model relies on partnering with experienced commercial farmers rather than distributing birds directly to untrained households, and what the planned Bechem facility will add to the country’s poultry value chain once completed.
Hon. Opoku explained that because agriculture in Ghana is entirely private sector-led, government’s role under the programme is to create a conducive environment for private individuals to participate rather than run the operations itself.
In practice, he said, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture procures beds and feed centrally, then works through district offices that have identified commercial poultry farmers willing to support the initiative.
“These commercial farmers have the facilities, they have the experience, and they have the willingness to help actualize this laudable government program.”
Hon. Eic Opoku,Minister for Food and Agriculture
He said 10,000 day-old chicks are sent to commercial farmers in each district to be brooded for one month before distribution to backyard beneficiaries, a step he described as essential because the people receiving the birds have no knowledge in the poultry business.
Without that initial month of expert care, he explained, the mortality rate among day-old chicks would be high, since the birds require maximum attention in that first phase to survive. After a month, he said, the birds become independent and are able to search for food on their own, at which point they are distributed to beneficiaries.
According to the Minister, the model has already been rolled out in roughly 11 regions, including Western North, Ahafo and Bono East, with birds distributed and broilers ready for market and consumption within eight weeks. He said the Western Region’s birds remain at a brooding place, with distribution to follow once that stage is complete, while the Northern Region has yet to receive its distribution.
A Separate Track for Women, Built Around Battery Cages
Alongside the household brooding scheme, Hon. Opoku described a parallel component targeted specifically at women, most of whom he said are not poultry farmers by trade. Under this track, he said the Ministry gives beneficiaries battery cages sized for 120 birds each, along with feed, and adds birds and technical support so the women can begin operating.
He said the programme started with almost 300 women across the country under this arrangement, describing it as a form of capital being placed in their hands.
He noted that some, though not all, of the women are already collecting eggs, and that officers are on the ground monitoring what is happening across the initiative.
From Backyard Production to a Modern Processing Hub
The Minister said the programme’s underlying strategy has three objectives: increasing poultry production, developing the value chain through processing, and boosting household food and nutrition security.
He rejected suggestions that beneficiaries consuming some of their birds undermines the programme’s goals.
“What are birds raised for? Are they flocked to be fixed on the wall for people to look at? They are meant for consumption. So even when you encourage them to sell, they are selling to local people for consumption. Consume some, but don’t consume everything.”
Hon. Eic Opoku,Minister for Food and Agriculture
He said the ultimate aim of the investment is to boost local consumption so that Ghanaians develop a taste for locally produced birds, gradually shifting demand away from imported poultry, given that the country spends US$350 million annually importing poultry products, a cost he said also exports jobs to other nations.
To support the value-addition leg of the strategy, Hon. Eric Opoku said government moved quickly to fast-track construction of a modern poultry processing centre in Bechem, describing it as more than a simple processing plant, which is why it is called a centre.
He outlined two dedicated processing lines, one for layers and one for broilers, with combined capacity to handle 3,000 birds per hour, alongside holding facilities for packaging and refrigeration, a hatchery to supply day-old chicks to registered farmers, and an integrated feed mill to support the hatchery’s output.
“The contractor and the technical people have reported that all things being equal, in the early month of next year, we’ll be able to complete the project for us.”
Hon. Eic Opoku,Minister for Food and Agriculture
Scaling Up to Medium and Commercial Producers
Mr Opoku said the household phase, which he said is not even 50 percent complete, will eventually be followed by a second phase targeting medium-scale producers capable of expanding from around 500 to 3,000 birds, and a third phase focused on large-scale commercial farmers. He said government’s duty is to support producers at each tier to expand once production increases, so the country can produce efficiently enough to feed its people.
He argued that Ghana’s domestic poultry production currently meets only about five to ten percent of national demand, despite broilers being ready for market within two months, a gap he said the phased strategy is designed to close by building capacity across every tier of the value chain rather than at the household level alone.
He also pointed to interest generated by the Ministry’s public campaigns under the Feed Ghana programme, recounting an account of a man who invited him to his home to show eggs he had produced after being inspired by the campaign, but who was struggling to find buyers for them.
Hon. Eric Opoku said such cases illustrate both the enthusiasm the campaign has generated and the market access challenge the Bechem centre, its hatchery and its feed mill are intended to help resolve.
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