By Ashiadey Dotse
President John Dramani Mahama has announced that government is expanding veterinary and animal health services and setting up 270 Farmer Service Centers across the country to support the successful rollout of the Nkoko Nkitinkiti Household and Backyard Poultry Production Initiative.
Speaking at the launch of the Nkoko Nkitinkiti program in Kumasi on Wednesday November 12, 2025, President Mahama explained that the new Farmer Service Centers will deliver mechanization, input supplies, and technical extension support to poultry farmers across all regions of Ghana.
He said these interventions are part of government’s broader strategy to rebuild the poultry sector under the Feed Ghana Program, which forms a key pillar of the National Plan for Agricultural Transformation, Food Sovereignty, and Shared Prosperity.
The President described the Nkoko Nkitinkiti Initiative as more than just a government project, calling it a “citizen’s movement for food security and self-reliance.” He said the program aims to restore Ghana’s poultry industry, which has for years been burdened by high feed costs, limited access to improved breeds, and overdependence on imported poultry products.
He revealed that under the Feed Ghana program, government is implementing a three-pronged approach to transform the poultry value chain from household production to commercial scale. This includes supporting 50 anchor poultry farmers, each receiving 80,000 birds, and assisting 500 small and medium-scale farmers to produce three million birds nationwide.
The President added that government will also distribute three million birds across all 276 constituencies, with each constituency receiving 10,000 birds, benefiting about 60,000 households.
Before the national rollout, the program was piloted in 13 districts where 13,000 farmers participated. The pilot phase, according to President Mahama, proved that backyard poultry is a powerful tool for improving nutrition, creating jobs, and developing local agribusinesses.
He encouraged Ghanaians—especially women and youth—to take advantage of the initiative to build sustainable family businesses. “The success of this program depends on our collective efforts. It is a citizens’ movement for food security and self-reliance,” he said.
President Mahama also urged traditional and religious leaders to support the program in their communities and called on private investors and development partners to collaborate with government in building a stronger, self-sufficient poultry industry.
