Locally Manufactured Poultry Feed Introduced To Farmers

A locally manufactured poultry feed that enable chicks to grow to about three kilos in seven to eight weeks was launched Tuesday in Accra. The feed, Doppymix, is a high potency poultry feed with 17 per cent protein and 300 kilograms of energy and has the potential to turn the poultry industry in Ghana around, as its usage makes chicks grow faster than the European ones. Dr Lewis Pendragon, Development and Production Director of Doppymix, at the launch said Doppymix was made with locally produced maize or rice and that farmers who used the feed usually sold their birds cheaper than the average price on the market because the birds grow quicker at a lower cost. "Usually prices of birds are high because they import the feed and that adds to the cost," he explained and noted that Africa had a great poultry farming potential. Dr Pendragon, who is from Trinidad and Tobago, said the average Ghanaian consumed about four kilos of poultry products a year, and that if Ghanaian farmers decided to use Doppymix, they could help increase the consumption rate. He said his company was able to rear chicken for sale at a unit cost of GH�13.00 as a result of using the feed. Mr Hendrik Claeys, Manager of AG Clandys Farms Limited, use Doppymix as poultry feed for his birds. He testified at the launch that the feed facilitate quicker growth of the birds. He, however, appealed to government to motivate poultry farmers by reviewing the issue of tax exemptions for poultry farmers. "Government can motivate us by removing taxes on the price of day old chicks," he said. Mr David Azaglo, a Ghanaian farmer and another user of Doppymix, described the feed as the best on the market; and added that it helped him to sell his products cheaper than the average price on the market. "I sell a crate of good quality eggs for between GH�7.00 and GH�8.00 while the average price on the market is about GH�12.00," he added.