Agriculture Minister Bryan Acheampong Launches FSRP Chicken Road Show to Promote Locally Produced Poultry

Minister for Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, has praised the West African Food Systems Resilience Programme (FSRP) for successfully meeting its poultry production timeline and for launching its inaugural Chicken Road Show at this year’s National Farmers Day Exhibition, known as Agrifest.

The FSRP Chicken Road Show is designed to allow the Ghanaian public to sample locally produced, Grown-in-Ghana broiler chicken.

Selected anchor farmers participating in the FSRP grilled between 1,000 and 2,000 hygienic, nutritious, and delicious chickens for public sampling during the event.

The five-day fair, hosted by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), is a key part of the National Farmers Day celebrations.

At the FSRP stand, Minister Acheampong highlighted the initiative as a vital means to boost domestic poultry production, aiming to increase the current output of just five percent over the next five years through this poultry intensification project.

“We currently produce about five percent of our poultry needs, and our goal is to significantly increase this figure within the next five years through the FSRP,” he stated. The minister emphasized that Ghana aims to not only satisfy domestic demand but also to export poultry products in the coming years.

Acheampong noted that locally produced chicken is both healthy and trustworthy, attributing this to the Ministry’s oversight in ensuring the proper dosage of vaccines and quality feeds, particularly within the FSRP poultry program. “Thanks to our standards at MoFA, we limit additives in locally produced chicken, which allows it to have a longer shelf life compared to imported chicken, which can sometimes be stored for 10 to 15 years,” he added.

During the event, the FSRP stand offered visitors a chance to taste grilled chicken for free. Key dignitaries accompanying the minister included Ashanti Regional Minister Simon Osei-Mensah and other officials from the FSRP.

The West Africa Food Systems Resilience Programme (FSRP) is a World Bank initiative under MoFA, which is implementing the Poultry Intensification Scheme (PIS). An allocation of $12.5 million has been designated from World Bank funding for the FSRP to support this scheme over a five-year period.

The PIS aims to revitalize the local broiler industry, with commercial anchor farmers and their smallholder counterparts receiving support to produce, process, and market at least two million birds annually during this timeframe.

Beneficiaries will receive input credits, including day-old chicks, feed supplies, and vaccines, along with training in modern best practices and climate-smart technologies in poultry production.

They will also have access to matching grants for acquiring equipment for post-production processing and cold storage.

The FSRP Chicken Road Show is thus an integral part of the MOFA – FSRP Poultry Intensification Scheme, allowing Ghanaians to sample healthy, hygienic, and affordable locally produced broiler chicken.