President John Dramani Mahama has announced that Ghana is on track to achieve self-sufficiency in chicken production within the next three years, thanks to the rollout of the ‘Nkokɔ Nkitinkiti‘ project, a national program designed to expand local poultry farming and reduce reliance on imports.
During a visit to the National Service Authority Papao Farms in Accra on Friday, September 12, 2025, the President outlined the vision behind the initiative, stressing the need for Ghana to produce nearly all of its poultry locally.
“Once the Nkokɔ Nkitinkiti project takes off, we believe that in three years, we’ll be producing almost 100% of the chicken that we eat in Ghana ourselves. So that we can stop bringing nkokɔfunu from outside. We don’t know how those chickens were raised,” he said.
President Mahama also raised concerns about the potential health risks linked to imported poultry, pointing out that many foreign producers rely on practices that may not meet Ghana’s standards.
“In many of those countries, they use genetically modified chickens. In many of the countries, they inject the chickens with hormones,” he noted.
He emphasised that beyond cutting import dependency, the ‘Nkokɔ Nkitinkiti’ project seeks to encourage healthier dietary choices for Ghanaians.
“We want fresh Ghanaian-grown chicken, so that our people can live a healthy life,” the President stressed.
The ‘Nkokɔ Nkitinkiti’ initiative, a flagship government programme aimed at revitalizing Ghana’s poultry sector, is set to officially launch in October 2025, following a postponement from its original July launch date.
The programme, championed by President John Dramani Mahama, aims to drastically reduce Ghana’s annual $300 million expenditure on imported chicken by empowering 55,000 households and commercial farmers to produce poultry domestically.
The government has already begun procuring day-old chicks and battery cages, with beneficiary lists being finalized and procurement processes nearing completion
