International Finance Corporation (IFC) Managing Director Makhtar Diop has identified Ghana’s poultry industry as one of the areas with potential to reduce the country’s dependence on imports and strengthen domestic production.
He said Ghana could improve the resilience of its economy by investing in sectors capable of meeting local demand while creating opportunities for value addition and industrial development.
Speaking in an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV’s The Point of View on Wednesday, September 23, Mr Diop said the country’s heavy reliance on cocoa and gold exports left it exposed to fluctuations in international commodity prices.
He therefore called for greater investment in agribusiness, light manufacturing and other productive sectors that could broaden Ghana’s economic base.
Mr Diop singled out poultry as an area where Ghana could make significant progress in import substitution.
He questioned the scale of Ghana’s poultry imports, arguing that the country had the potential to produce more of what it currently imports.
“When the people gave me the number in terms of imports of poultry, it doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
According to him, Ghana could draw lessons from other African countries that have expanded domestic poultry production and reduced their dependence on imported poultry products.
He said increasing local production, however, would require development of the entire poultry value chain rather than focusing solely on raising birds.
This, he explained, would involve investment in animal feed, soybean production, logistics, cold-chain facilities and other supporting infrastructure needed to make the industry competitive.
Mr Diop also urged Ghana to accelerate the development of light manufacturing and the processing of locally produced commodities.
He noted that a significant portion of Africa’s raw commodities are exported for processing outside the continent, limiting the value that African economies derive from their own natural and agricultural resources.
Increasing local processing, he said, would allow countries to retain more value from their commodities while reducing their exposure to fluctuations in international markets.
“If we have more transformation, we will be less affected by the volatility that we have on those markets,” he said.
The IFC chief said Ghana’s economic diversification should therefore go beyond simply adding new export products and focus on building productive industries capable of serving both domestic and regional markets.
He said stronger domestic production in areas such as agriculture, manufacturing and agro-processing could simultaneously reduce import dependence, create jobs and improve the economy’s ability to withstand external shocks.
His comments come amid renewed calls for Ghana to deepen value addition and reduce its reliance on a narrow range of commodity exports to support more sustainable economic growth.
