Ghana poultry industry crippled by tariff removal
A Ghana agriculturist and says that the government’s removal of import tariffs on chicken, and the subsequent influx of cheap imports, is responsible for crippling the local poultry industry.
William Awuku Ahiadormey says that a tariff in the 2001 budget was removed the following June, without being communicated to farmers.
“The message went first to traders, those who were importing chicken. The message did not go to the farmers,†he said. “So farmers…were thinking that things were normal. But the traders got the information and they went out to bring more chicken. So you can see that by the time we got into 2002, imports went above local production.â€
Citing statistics from the Veterinary Services Department, Ahiadormey said that up until 2001, local production levels were higher than import levels.
Before 2001, there was always a lot of talk about poultry imports, reduce imports, use tariffs. But even in those days, local production was clearly higher than imports,†he said.
According to him, by 2005, 64% of chicken eaten in Ghana was imported, with only 36% being produced locally.
Ghana’s Finance Minister Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu says that news of local farmers exporting poultry indicates that the industry is experiencing growth, contrary to the position of Mr Ahiadormey. The minister said he would investigate the claim that the poultry tariffs had been removed without this being communicated to farmers.
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