Save Poultry Industry From Collapse - Farmers Cry Out

The Ashanti Region Poultry Farmers Association has called on the Ministry of Agriculture, particularly the directorates of veterinary and animal production, to check the activities of an Indian hatchery based at Apedwa in the Eastern Region.

The association has urged the directorates to intervene and stop the activities of the company to prevent the poultry industry from collapse.

It said the activities of the company, Park Agrotech Ghana Limited, were undermining the country's quest to reduce poultry import and was also causing financial loss to most poultry farmers.

The farmers are accusing the company of supplying unhealthy day old layer chicks to farmers in the country.

Effects

Addressing the media in Kumasi last Tuesday, the spokesperson for the association, Mr Isaac Essiaw, said many farmers had lost their investments through the purchase of day old chicks from the company, which have proven to be unhealthy.

He said all complaints to the company to have the situation rectified had been ignored, “as they do not care about the plight of the local farmers and are only interested in their profits”.

He said as a result of the operations of the company, the poultry industry was collapsing at a fast rate.

“Poultry Farmers are losing their capital, including loans they have taken from the banks. Maize purchased on credit and feed inputs from sellers have all gone down the drain,” he said.

According to him, 17 members of the association bought a total of over 52,000 day old chicks from this company and lost more than 23,000 within the first week.

He said the high mortality rate coupled with low egg production from the chicks bought from the company have become a source of worry to the farmers.

According to him, the situation is very alarming as it has never been the case with any local hatchery in the country.

Redress

The farmers are, therefore, demanding a full refund of all money they paid for the purchases made from the company since January this year till date since the company is the cause of their current predicament.

Risky business

Mr Essiaw explained that since poultry farming was a high risky venture, farmers usually spread risk by buying day old chicks from different companies in order to reduce their vulnerability.

He said that was what led many farmers to deal with the company.

Besides, he said, before entering the market, the company organised road shows and field trips for the farmers where the farmers were shown the company’s modern facilities “and so we thought they were into genuine business”.

He said even though the company was aware of the low quality of its products, it was still sending messages to farmers to come and buy birds at reduced prices.

Source: Daily Graphic