The Poultry Farmers Association of Ghana are lamenting over the stiff competition they face with the importers of frozen chicken.
The association says about 95% of their market has been taken over by the imported chicken products.
It would be recalled that local poultry farmers earlier appealed to government to ban the imports of frozen chicken .
Meanwhile, the importers say the local poultry industry is not able to meet the demand.
Speaking to Citi Business News at the sidelines of the World Egg Day celebrations, Chairman of the Poultry Farmers Association of Ghana Victor Oppong Adjei, said the situation still remains the same.
“Well the situation has not changed it’s the same. About 95% of the market has been taken by the imported frozen chicken. And even the 5% we are still finding it very difficult to sell. Because we are not competitive in terms of pricing and what baffles me is that if you travel abroad, chicken is not as cheap as it is been sold here. So we need to investigate and see why it is not cheap there but very cheap when brought here,” he said.
He stated that government must invest in the industry to make it competitive since it holds a huge potential to create jobs for the country.
Meanwhile, the General Secretary of the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU), Mr. Edward Kareweh, some months back advised government to apply administrative measures to protect local poultry producers when applying the new Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Common External Tariff (CET).
Mr. Kareweh, told Citi Business News that additional steps must be taken to make Ghana’s tariff regime conform to what have been agreed upon to protect poultry farmers.
He further stated that a uniform tariff regime across the sub-region would protect ECOWAS member states from foreign products that are produced at a cheaper cost.
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By: Jessica Ayorkor Aryee/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
