| | Business 
[ 2012-04-12 ] 
Government rules out ban on imported poultry in the short term
Government has stated categorically that it has no
immediate plans to ban the importation of poultry
into Ghana.
This follows persistent concerns expressed by
poultry farmers over the influx of imported
poultry products onto the market which they bemoan
is seriously hampering their business.
The farmers have waged a campaign against
importation of the products or at least the
imposition of tarrifs on them. But Deputy Agric
Minister, Dr Sugri Tia has told JOY BUSINESS that
even though an outright ban would not be ruled
out; there was a need to first boost local
production.
“It is possible to increase tariffs but we are
considering that it is not an immediate option
now.”
He said the “consumption of poultry has been very
low and people’s purchasing power has not been the
best and we are trying to push local production
whiles encouraging people to consume more. So we
want to keep their appetite for chicken there”.
According to the minister, government will not
want the consumption of chicken to reduce because
of high cost.
“We don’t want it to go out because of the high
cost chicken and the same time we don’t want our
farmers to be out of production, so we are trying
to find innovative ways of helping them produce
locally whiles we watch what is going on because
we have been reducing the quest for imports of
chicken into the country.”
“We are doing it not necessarily because of the
tariffs but then gradually we use the tariffs to
reduce the imports,” he added.
Source - Joy News
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