‘FSRP Chicken Road Show’ Offers Free Sampling of Locally Raised Ghanaian Chicken at Farmers Day Exhibition.

Accra: The West Africa Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP), a World Bank initiative under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), is set to launch a week-long road show allowing the public to sample locally grown broiler chicken. This event will take place ahead of the Farmers' Day celebrations, offering a unique opportunity for the public to taste Ghanaian chicken at no cost.According to Ghana News Agency, the 'FSRP Chicken Road Show' will run from Monday to Thursday as part of the Farmers' Day Exhibition. Selected beneficiary anchor farmers participating in the FSRP will grill between 1000-2000 hygienic and nutritious locally bred chickens each day for public sampling. The tasting sessions are scheduled to begin at 2 PM daily at the FSRP grilling stand, with an open invitation extended to the general public.The event will also see participation from state officials, parliamentarians, public figures, celebrities, schools, private organizations, and interest groups, who are invited to support the initiative by sampling the locally produced chicken. Following the Farmers' Day celebrations, the road show is expected to be replicated in other regions to further promote the Poultry Intensification Scheme (PIS) under the FSRP.As of 2021, Ghana's chicken imports exceeded $300 million. In response, MoFA-FSRP is implementing the PIS to revitalize the local broiler industry. The World Bank has allocated $12.5 million over five years for this initiative, aiming to produce, process, and market at least two million birds annually. Beneficiaries of the scheme receive input credit, including day-old chicks, feed supplies, and vaccines, along with training in modern poultry practices and climate-smart technologies.In July 2024, 22 commercial farmers from six regions-Ashanti, Bono, Volta, Greater Accra, Central, and Eastern-were competitively selected to participate in the PIS. Since then, FSRP has facilitated input credit for eight anchor farmers, providing 360,500 day-old chicks, 911,000 vaccine doses, and 1,17 9,000 kg of feed, resulting in the production of 400,000 birds by the end of October 2024.Media practitioners have been invited to witness the entire process of producing homegrown broilers, from farm to fork. This includes observing the handover of day-old chicks to outgrowers, the transportation of grown birds to processing facilities, and the processing routine, all conducted under stringent regulatory oversight.The FSRP-produced broilers have been raised with strict adherence to industry standards, monitored by teams from the Animal Production Directorate (APD-MOFA), the Veterinary Services Dept (VSD-MOFA), Regional/District Departments of Agriculture, and FSRP Social and Environmental experts. These teams ensure compliance with feed quality, vaccination timeliness, bio-security protocols, stipulated weights, and general healthcare of the birds.