The first batch of broiler poultry under the West Africa Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP) of the Ministry of Food & Agriculture (MoFA) is ready for the market, Project Coordinator of FSRP Osei Owusu Agyeman has disclosed.

He said the poultry, which have reached the maturity age of seven weeks with average live weight of between 2.9 and three kilos, is ready for processing into whole chicken and cut parts for packaging and marketing.

“The basic requirement as it stands is for the farmers to leverage this opportunity and invite viable offtakers such as the fast food restaurants and shopping malls to deepen marketing channels for the product,” he said.

He said one of the project’s key themes, which is public private engagement, advocates that the private sector is better placed to drive government policy.

“It is for this reason that such offtakers as restaurants and shopping malls are key in providing and stocking the processed poultry for consumers,” Mr. Agyeman reiterated.

Indeed, fast-food restaurants like KFC, Papaye among others demand dressed chicken between the weights of 1.1 and 1.3 kg, which is generally obtained between 4 and 5 weeks old with an average live-weight of 1.7 and 2.0 kg.

With the above specifications, FSRP-MoFA said its locally produced poultry meets the requirements, adding: “Consumers can therefore obtain these homegrown, hygienically processed, fresh and nutritious broiler chicken in malls, restaurants and processing facilities”.

These are being run under the ‘FSRP Poultry Intensification Scheme’ which commenced in June this year under the auspices of the Ministry of Food & Agriculture.

Quality control

An FSRP Monitoring team made up of officials from the Animal Production Directorate (APD), Veterinary Services Dept (VSD) and West Africa Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP) visited some of the poultry farms and processing facilities in Ashanti Region to ascertain their adherence to laid down industrial standards – like feed quality, vaccinations, bio-security requirements, required weights and general healthcare of the birds.

The facilities were at Rockland Farms (producers of Akoko Tasty Chicken), Asamoah and Yamoah Farms (producers of Gold Birds), Darko Farms (producers of Darko Farms Chicken) and Boris B Farms (producers of Boris B Chicken).

Processing

At Rockland Farms, FSRP and MOFA officials witnessed semi-automated processing methods, while Darko Farms and Asamoah & Yamoah Farms took FSRP officials through their fully automated processing methods – including slaughtering, dressing, cutting into parts, packaging, blast-freezing and transportation.

MoFA-FSRP in other regions

The ongoing FSRP Poultry Intensification Scheme has also been rolled out in the Eastern Region (with Fredna Farms), Central Region (with Judahson Farms) and Greater Accra Region (with Pap Farms). Anchor farmers in the Bono and other regions are expected to be enrolled onto the scheme next month.

The MOFA-FSRP Poultry Intensification Scheme is being run in phases under World Bank funding, with each beneficiary receiving input credit in the form of about 160, 000 day-old chicks, 180,000 kilogrammes of feed as well as supplies of vaccines.

They will also be 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 that supports post-production processing and cold storage.

The scheme targets the production of approximately two million broiler birds on a yearly basis, under a US$12.5m World Bank facility. Under the scheme, eighteen (18) commercial anchor farmers and their outgrowers nationwide are being supported to produce, process and market two million birds annually over the next three years.

In Ghana, FSRP is being implemented by the Ministry of Food & Agriculture – focusing on the intensified production, marketing and consumption of wholesome rice, maize, broiler poultry, soyabeans and tomatoes.