Profit-making idea: Manufacturing affordable feed for Ghana’s poultry industry


In May 2020, the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) in Ghana set aside approximately $86 million for investment loans for the country’s poultry industry.

According to the ADB, the loan initiative aims to help businesses in the poultry value chain to “de-risk their operations, increase chicken production and cut out the imports”.

The money is meant to help end the country’s dependence on imported poultry products and create jobs for the youth.

Akwasi Osei-Bobie Ansah, CEO of Farmers Hope, believes there is an opportunity for an entrepreneur or investor to join the efforts to save the poultry industry in the country.

Farmer’s Hope produces organic fertiliser with a formulation developed using waste products from the cocoa farming process, among others. In the same way, Ansah believes there is an opportunity to find a formulation for a high-quality but more affordable poultry feed.

The price is important, says Ansah, because the cost of feed in the poultry industry is prohibitive.

His opinion is confirmed by various studies on the topic, listing the cost of broiler and hatchery feed as one of the major challenges for the industry.

Ansah has tried his hand at formulating an alternative poultry feed concentrate, providing it to a couple of broiler farmers, who have indicated it would be a viable product.

The inputs he used for his sample include two plants found in the country and the calcium from sea snail shells, also in abundant supply.

Ansah says local research into a lower-cost feed solution is urgently required to address the “astronomical rise in the price of poultry meat and feed”.

According to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the consumption of poultry currently exceeds domestic production in Ghana by more than 340,000 tonnes.

Poultry feed in Ghana comprises mainly maize, soya beans and fish meal. A study by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency has found that input costs in the production of poultry feed are seven times the cost of labour and four to five times the cost of utilities and transport.


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