Sankofa Foundation, a Ghanaian-based association in the Netherlands, in collaboration with Ghana National Association of Farmers and Fishermen (GNAFF), has commissioned a Family Poultry Project at Asutsuare in the Greater Accra region.
The foundation which aims at creating culture and deepening relations between Ghanaians and their Netherlands partners, have targeted improving the lifestyle of Ghanaian women by putting them into the poultry industry.
The chairman of the foundation, Mr. George Duncan, in an interview with The Chronicle, said the idea was to give the women the chance to earn income for themselves since they have several responsibilities to take care of. "Therefore helping them in this direction will pave the way for poverty reduction in the smaller communities," he said.
He said looking at the economic status and the income level of most women in the country, it is so low that it needs serious attention to lift them out of the menace.
"It is in this view that we resorted to fund raising in Holland and seeking support from Novib and Rabobank Foundation and other corporate bodies to speed up the organization's activities in the country," he said.
The chairman said the project would commence in early June with 50 women, and each would be provided with hundred chicks.
Standard cages would also be built at the same place, leading to the creation of jobs for the youth in the area.
Touching on the prospects of the initiative, the Holland partner, Mr. Arno Bos said he was impressed seeing women in various groups and associations which have made it easier for them to get access to the day old chicks. He said the chicks would however be available to only registered members of GNAFF.
Arno Bos said it was the cooperative's initiative to train the participants on how to keep the chicken.
The training of the participants would be free. Feed would be provided.
When asked about the success of the Family Poultry Project since larger poultry farms are collapsing and others are on the verge of closing down due to the expensive nature of the farm inputs, Bos told The Chronicle that they would not buy most of the inputs from the market, and this would lead to lower cost of production.
"They would provide mills to process the feed for the farmers since access to other raw materials in the area will be easier and at a cheaper cost."
He made mention of plans to create markets for them, especially supplying to hotels and restaurants and promised that he and his partners would take it as a task to help the farmers partake in exhibitions to make their products known to people.
Mr. Bos said they have been training farmers in Information Technology (IT) across the nation for about two years now,apart from the establishment of a Telecentre in Bolgatanga this year.
Mr. John A .Dziwornu, the national secretary of GNAFF seized the opportunity to encourage women groups to take the initiative very seriously in order to benefit immensely from it.
He further assured them the project would extend to others who could not benefit form it now.
