Ghana strives to achieve poultry self sufficiency by 2029

GHANA – Ghana expects to meet its full domestic poultry demand by 2029, according to a projection by the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku.

He said the Poultry Industry Revitalisation Initiative under the Feed Ghana Programme is working with yearly targets of 12 percent sufficiency in 2025, 25 percent in 2026, 48 percent in 2027, 76 percent in 2028, and 104 percent in 2029.

He noted that interest in the programme has increased following the rollout of the Nkoko Nkitinkiti project, adding that this momentum could push Ghana ahead of its original timeline.

Opoku made the remarks during his presentation at the Government Accountability Series held at the Presidency in Accra on Monday.

Rising import bill

He explained that the push for self-sufficiency is driven largely by the country’s growing food import bill, which he said included US$400 million spent on poultry and poultry products in 2024.

He added that reducing these imports would help create employment opportunities within the sector while supporting national food security.

The minister said the government is now focusing on completing the remaining stages of the poultry revitalisation programme, which include a farm-to-table initiative working with 50 anchor farmers and a poultry intensification plan targeting 500 small and medium-scale producers.

He said these interventions aim to support communities with limited resources, including households led by women, by helping them participate in local food production and strengthen their income base.

Opoku also said plans are underway to establish a poultry processing plant in Bechem in the Bono Region to support the value chain.

He stated that the planned factory and related interventions are intended to reduce the country’s reliance on imported poultry while widening job opportunities for youth and women.

The minister said the ministry remains focused on supporting both large enterprises and smallholder farmers to reclaim the local poultry market.

He argued that agriculture must be approached as a business that can drive industrial growth, create jobs, and strengthen Ghana’s ability to produce its own food.

Industry outlook

Ghana’s poultry sector remains one of the country’s most paradoxical industries: it is the most consumed source of animal protein, yet domestic production meets only a tiny fraction of national demand.

In 2024, Ghana produced roughly 75,000 to 80,000 metric tons of chicken meat, a figure that varies slightly depending on whether one uses USDA estimates (closer to 50,000 MT in recent years) or the higher numbers reported by the Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers (around 73,000–80,000 MT).

Whatever the exact tonnage, local output supplies less than 20–25 % of the chicken Ghanaians eat.

The remaining 75–80 %—approximately 270,000 metric tons in both 2023 and 2024—is imported, primarily as frozen cuts from the Netherlands, the United States, Poland, Brazil, and Belgium.

Consumption, meanwhile, is substantial and growing. Total chicken meat consumption hovers between 345,000 and 360,000 metric tons per year, translating to roughly 9.6–10.7 kg per person annually for Ghana’s 34–35 million people.

That is lower than the peak of about 13.7 kg per capita reached in 2021, largely because inflation, cedi depreciation, and high feed costs have pushed retail prices up and forced many households to cut back.

Even so, chicken remains far more popular than beef, goat, or pork, and the market is valued at close to US$275 million in 2024.

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