No ban on poultry importation - Bartels

Accra, Sept. 14, GNA - The government would not subsidise or institute any form of protection for the domestic poultry industry so long as it can not produce at a comparative cheaper cost than the imported ones.
Mr Kwamena Bartels, Minister of Private Sector Development and President Special Initiatives, who stated this on Tuesday said, "Even if the local industries are subsidised they can't produce chicken at lower prices compared to the imported product.
"Our Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) situation would not allow us to do that besides, because of the dilemma of not being able to compete with the heavily subsidized products from the developed nations," he said.
The Minister was responding to questions regarding Nigeria's ban on the importation of some items including poultry products when he launched the 2005 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Report in Accra.
The report was launched was under the theme "Rethinking the Role of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs)" under the auspicious of the Third World Network-Africa, an international network of groups and individuals that seek greater articulation of the needs and rights of people of the Third world.
Mr Bartels said Ghana would not follow Nigeria's example since it had advantage over Ghana in terms of market size.
"If we decided to ban the importation of poultry products, will the ordinary Ghanaian be able to buy chicken.
"Our poultry farmers have not been able to develop the industry to the state where they can produce chicken to the ordinary person so why talk of banning," he asked. 14 Sept. 05