The Board Chairman for Akro-Farm in the Akuapem North Municipal Assembly of Eastern Region, Mr. Emmanuel Ntow-Kissiedu in an interview with Kingdom FM’s KONTIHEN KOFI OBOH has revealed that, scarcity of maiz in the Ghanaian market is making poultry farming so difficult for farmers.
According to him, the price of maize has in recently increased to the extent that farmers can’t afford to purchase.
He said, they have over 80,000 birds (chicken) in which they feed them at their farm. Feeding 1,000 birds(chicken) is not easy and how much more feeding over 80,000 birds imagine the cost involve is huge amount of money.
“Meanwhile we purchase this maize from the farmers in the country. The most painful aspect of it is that; offlate when the farmers harvested their maize they sell them to Burkinabés for France CFA. Because their currency is heavier than ours”.
Mr. Ntow-Kissiedu added, sometimes they have to travelled to Tumu in the Upper West Region before they get access to maize for their birds which is very challenging.
He continued indicating that before the bird flu hit some part or the country, they’ve already put measures in place to protect their birds.
“Because our birds are many and is huge amount of money. So we can’t wait for the flu to kill them before we find solution to it” he said.
However, Mr. Ntow-Kissiedu stressed, everything being equal, they are looking to 2025 to see that the birds (chickens) that would be laying eggs would be amounted to the total number of 1 million.
Furthermore, the founder of Akro-Farm, Dr. Benson Opoku appealed to Prez Akufo-Addo to help them solve the maize menace that is confronting poultry farmers in the country.
He hinted, his poultry farm is under the 1D1F initiative by the NPP gov’t led by H. E. Prez Nana Addo. Stating that they are grateful to Exim Bank for their support.
Dr. Opoku again pleads with Prez Akufo-Addo to come to their aid because they want to expand their farm to create more jobs for the youth within the municipality to help reduce the unemployment rate in the country.
By// Kontihen Kofi Oboh.
Source// Obohnews.
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