The Pig Farmers Association has expressed worry over the importation of pork products into the country.
The Association is also appealing to the government to abrogate an agreement between the Government of Ghana and the United States government that will flood the Ghanaian market with imported pork products.
According to the Association, the agreement if implemented could potentially kill the local pork industry.
Speaking to Citi News, the president of the Association, Kwame Appiah Danquah called on the government to swiftly abrogate the agreement to salvage the businesses of the members of the Association.
He said it is unfortunate the government signed the agreement without taking into consideration the growth of the local pork industry.
“It is not appropriate for the government to take such a decision without consulting us because that decision is going to collapse our business. We never thought that it will get to this period when the government will want to import pork into the country.”
“Now that you want to bring already slaughtered pigs into the country, it means most of the farms will have to fold up and a lot of the processing factories in the country will equally fold up because they used to take the pigs from the local farmers and process it and sell to the supermarkets, but this decision will allow them to take already processed pork which will affect businesses.”
Mr. Danquah said the pork industry is in dire need of the government’s push to survive.
“If we are able to support our local food processing companies to come up with reasonable prices, a lot of people will increase their production because a lot of people have now ventured into the piggery industry. With a little push from the Agric Ministry, we should be able to do more.”
“We shouldn’t give other countries a source of employment while we deprive our own people, so we intend to write letters to be given an opportunity for a dialogue with the stakeholders to find a better solution,” Mr. Danquah further bemoaned.
