President John Dramani Mahama has launched the “Nkoko Nkitinkiti” initiative, a nationwide programme designed to transform household poultry production and revitalise Ghana’s poultry industry.
Speaking at the launch in Kumasi on Wednesday, November 12, President Mahama described the initiative as a bold and practical step toward achieving food self-sufficiency and improving livelihoods across the country.
He explained that the project goes beyond a typical government intervention, calling it “a national movement and a courageous step towards restoring food security, strengthening household resilience, and fostering sustainable livelihoods for tens of thousands of Ghanaians especially women, youth, and vulnerable families.”
The Nkoko Nkitinkiti initiative forms part of the Poultry Industry Revitalisation Programme, a flagship component of the broader Feed Ghana Programme, which seeks to drive agricultural transformation, food sovereignty, and shared prosperity.
President Mahama lamented the decline of Ghana’s once vibrant poultry sector, attributing it to high feed costs, limited access to improved breeds, inadequate processing capacity, and overreliance on imports.
“In 2023 alone, Ghana spent over $350 million importing poultry products,” he noted. “That is a drain on our foreign exchange and a missed opportunity for our farmers and entrepreneurs. We must and we will reverse this trend.”
He emphasised that the time had come for Ghana to “reclaim the pride of producing, processing, and consuming what we ourselves grow.”
Outlining the structure of the Feed Ghana Programme, the President said it rests on a three-pronged strategy aimed at rebuilding the poultry value chain from household to commercial levels.
The first component, the Poultry Farm-to-Table Project, will support 50 anchor farmers across the country.
The second component, backed by the Food Systems Resilience Programme, will support 500 small and medium scale poultry farmers across all regions to produce 3 million birds, bridging the gap between large-scale operations and community-based producers.
The third and most community-driven component is the “Nkoko Nkitinkiti Backyard Poultry for Nutrition and Livelihoods” initiative. It aims to bring poultry farming into homes, schools, and communities, making household-level poultry production a source of food and income.
“Each participating household will receive 50 birds, along with starter packs, field support, and technical guidance to ensure sustainability. The selected breeds have been chosen for their resilience, adaptability, and productivity under local conditions.”
He reaffirmed government’s commitment to ensuring that every Ghanaian household has the opportunity to participate in and benefit from Ghana’s renewed agricultural transformation drive.