Bolgatanga, July 28, GNA - Major Courage Quashigah, Minister of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) on Monday said that the government is to increase the production of livestock in order to improve the nutritional value of food consumed nation-wide and the income of farmers.

This, he said, would be achieved through implementing development programmes that would alleviate the most important constraints to livestock production, improve the genetic potential of livestock breeds, develop feed resources, stock water supply, disease control, capacity building and provision of credit.

He said it was all under the Livestock Development Project, which is being financed with a loan of 24.8 million dollars from the African Development Bank.

Major Quashigah said this when he launched the Upper East Regional Livestock Development Project under the theme: "Livestock Production, Ghana's Hope For Food Security, Wealth Creation and Healthy People", in Bolgatanga.

He noted with concern that the an average Ghanaian's consumption of animal protein was very low, about four kilogram of meat per person in a year while the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recommended dietary requirement stands at 183 kilogram per year.

He added that, while the Ghanaian takes an average of 12 eggs in a year, the minimum annual requirement is about 100 eggs and that instead of the required 120 kilograms of milk per year, only 25 kilograms is taken.

Major Quashigah said it was unfortunate that the livestock and poultry sub-sector contributes only seven percent to the nation's agricultural growth domestic product (GDP) with the estimated domestic animal population of 1.2 million cattle, 5.6 million small ruminants, 17 million birds and 500,000 pigs. He said however, that the most important thing would be the quantity of meat placed on the market for consumption and statistical figures that are being repeated every year, because some people do not want to sell their animals.

The Minister said MOFA would be restructuring its six national livestock breeding stations to breed and supply various types of genetically improved breeding stocks to farmers on sustainable bases. He said animal feed would also be improved through the training of small-scale producers and disease surveillance and control strengthened to reduce mortality rate of various types of livestock.

Major Quashigah said 5.24 million dollars has been provided to enable private farmers to buy livestock for breeding, put up animal houses, procure animal feed and veterinary products. He said the farmers have been considered and an amount of 28 million dollars allocated to HIV/AIDS, guineaworm and malaria prevention campaigns.

Dr Agyen Frimpong, Director of Veterinary Services, in a speech read on his behalf by Dr Thomas Anyorikeya, Regional Director Veterinary Services announced that Ghana was declared a rinderpest disease free country in February, this year, by the Office Internationale des Epizootics (OIE).

He said rinderpest and other diseases of livestock has been a major course of low production of animal house boundary in the country and that the directorate of veterinary services in conjunction with its collaborators would ensure the creation of a stable epidemic disease situation to enhance livestock production.

He said all regional veterinary laboratories would be rehabilitated and equipped to meet demand.

Mr Mahami Salifu, Regional Minister, said land in the region was no more abundant and could not support the free-ranged system of grazing livestock and called for some modern methods of animal production to be introduced to the people.