Poultry farmers in Volta Region upgrade skills to combat shortage of maize
Ghana’s poultry sector is in crisis due to a maize shortage, raising feed costs and collapsing 80% of farms. Lawrence Tetteh of the GPFA urged government action to allow maize imports to support the industry. The workshop in the Volta Region promoted cage-free farming to improve egg and meat quality. Experts, including Dr. Daniel Abiliba and Dr. Emmanuel Piiru, criticized the battery-cage system for poor bird welfare and urged adoption of better farming methods.
Poultry farmers in the country have been hit by shortage of maize at the various markets.
The situation has resulted in making them not receiving enough feed for the growth of their birds.
The Executive Secretary of Ghana Poultry Farmers Association (GPFA), Lawrence A. Tetteh who engaged the media at a workshop for poultry farmers across the Volta Region disclosed that, inadequate supply of maize at the markets has contributed to high cost of the grain, resulting from thousands of poultry birds not being fed.
This has led to the collapse of 80 percent of poultry farms in the country.
He noted that officials of Poultry Farmers Association in Ghana responded positively by taking urgent action to protect the 20 percent poultry farms left to avoid total collapse of the industry.
The workshop, Lawrence Tetteh stressed, was therefore to whip-up the enthusiasm of poultry farmers in the Volta Region to embrace the use of cage-free poultry farming methods to maximize profit and improve on quality eggs and meat production.
The Executive Secretary appealed to government to allow poultry farmers import maize from foreign countries to support and protect the industry from total collapse.
Lawrence Tetteh commended organizers of the workshop for realizing the need to update the knowledge and skills of poultry farmers across the Volta Region.
The Director of Animal Welfare League, Dr. Daniel Abiliba said the importance attached to the well-being of human beings must be extended to animals and birds that are under their care to ensure that they are safe for consumption.
Dr. Abiliba who said the battery-cage system being practiced in poultry farming is not the best. He explained that this method restricts birds from moving freely. This method prevents birds from producing quality eggs and meat for consumption.
He said the world is gradually moving away from battery-cage system to cage-free method of poultry farming to ensure better production of birds.
The Director emphasized that since poultry farming across the world is shifting from battery-cage system to cage-free, poultry farmers in Ghana can’t afford not to be part of this appropriate new method and expect to have good results.
The Programme Manager of Animal Welfare League, Dr. Emmanuel Piiru explained that the battery-cage method of poultry farming brings about overcrowding that leads to sickness, unhealthy eggs and chicken production.
He therefore called on the farmers to at all times consider the welfare of their birds to ensure quality production of eggs and chicken.
Dr, Piiru said the negative effects of battery-cage poultry farming system is that the birds suffer from physical and psychological conditions which leads to deformities.
Source Link : https://3news.com/news/poultry-farmers-in-volta-region-upgrade-skills-to-combat-shortage-of-maize/
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