Ghana’s Agricultural Development Bank has announced a GHC500 million (US$ 87 million) loan facility in support of the government’s Broiler Revitalisation Programme aimed at increasing the domestic production of chicken.
FairPlay founder Francois Baird reminds us how Ghana’s chicken industry was destroyed. “ EU producers did to Ghana what they’re trying to do here in South Africa: they swamped the market with dumped chicken imports and sold below the cost of production and at prices Ghanaian producers could not match.”
The result: imports took over and local chicken producers went out of business. A once-flourishing local industry that had provided 80% of Ghanaian chicken has been reduced to supplying only 5% of the country’s chicken.
The effect of that assault is recorded in a touching video called “Ghana’s Last Poultry Farmers” — a televised feature produced by Germany’s public international broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Any South Africans who think imports are not a problem should take a look at it.
Over the years FairPlay has called out the disastrous experience of Ghana’s chicken industry that has been devastated by the impacts of EU chicken dumping.
Two years ago Poultry producers and trade unions in South Africa and Ghana joined the FairPlay anti-dumping movement in opposing dumping of EU poultry parts on African markets.
Once a country loses an entire value chain, it’s a real challenge to rebuild it. Ghana should be applauded for its leadership and commitment to agriculture and food security. FairPlay hopes that Ghana has the policies in place to protect this investment, and supports its reborn poultry industry from dumping and predatory trade in future.
Ghana currently imports over US$ 300 million (about 180,000 mt) worth of chicken annually, or the equivalent of 5 million chickens each week. The country’s own production equates to about 58,000 mt whereas national demand is about 400,000 mt, reports the Business Insider.
