Mahama’s “Nkoko Nketenkete” Initiative: Minister announces Refresher courses for Interested Persons

The Central Regional Minister, Eduamoah Ekow Panyin Okyere has stated that the government is ready to implement the small holder poultry farm initiative, dubbed; “nkoko nketenkete’.

He says the trend in poultry farming is changing with the time, hence, interested persons must go through refresher courses to be up to speed with the new technology in poultry farming.

The Central Regional Minister made the statement in an interview with the media on the sidelines of a workshop, organized by the poultry farmers association in Cape Coast.

Mr Ekow Panyin Okyere announced a collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, at the University of Cape Coast, specifically the section in charge of poultry to school prospective poultry farmers on new ways of farming, in order to make informed decisions.

“We’ll be bringing our  people there occasionally for orientation. The farmers themselves have to be given refresher courses. we do not expect that ten years ways of  producing a day old chick is the same today. We want them to be abreast of time to ensure a successful project”.

The Central Regional Minister thus called on the unemployed, to leverage the opportunity available to acquire a job for themselves, indicating that “the initiative is a social intervention “.

“Those who  are ready to venture into the “nkoko  nketenkete”, we want all of you to come onboard. The nkoko nketenkete programme is the government’s recognition of the contribution that  the small holder farmers play in the poultry industry,  hence, the initiative. We think that if we can  decentralize the poultry activities to bring onboard many people, it would be better for the Ghanaian society”, he stressed .

The minister assured that the various district assemblies would make land banks available to farmers to produce feed for the poultry farms to help reduce the cost involved in poultry farming.

”Feed is about 70% of the cost of production so we will collaborate with the farmers to provide the feed to reduce the cost. We are speaking to the district assemblies to provide land banks and inputs for farmers to grow maize. Poultry farmers can come together to purchase the mixing machines to produce the feed themselves”.

“The government is ready to implement “nkoko nketenkete” because it is one of the key things in the NDC manifesto. We need the people to also get ready”‘ the Minister underscored.