By Napoleon Ato Kittoe
A livestock show was held in the first week of October, 2024, at the Efua Sutherland Park in Accra. On the opening day, players in the livestock industry affirmed their place as key to agricultural outcomes. The place of animals in life is that it is a source of protein and balanced diets for humans, and provides incomes to both breeders and the food value chain. It is also a source of revenue to the state, highlights opportunities for industrialization and exports as well as enhance soil fertility for plants as their drops constitute manure.
The animal industry is also a source of employment to veterinarians, pharmaceuticals, and retail outlets targeting animal health. Animal-borne diseases that find their way to humans have posed a scare to public health, a situation that would inevitably draw medical doctors into the equation who among others issues public health alerts on diseased animals and the need for humans to curb excessive intake of healthy meat.
Successive governments in Ghana have put a premium on agriculture as a means to food and overall national security. The bit of the Akufo Addo administration is the rearing for food and income module under the broad agenda of planting food and jobs. Subscribers were given animals as start-ups to businesses and veterinary assistance for increased production.
Going into the maiden National Livestock Day Celebrations in Accra on October 3 and 4, being a precursor to the annual Farmers Day, the Ghana National Association of Cattle Farmers congratulated the government for the massive recognition, whilst calling for more support in aspects such as veterinary services and lower taxation predicated on the sometimes long process in raising animals.
Despite the presence of animal husbandry in Ghana, it is acknowledged countries in Africa’s Sahel region have comparative advantage in the business. During the lockdown occasioned by the global pandemic, this became evident when countries shut their doors affecting in-bound supplies through land borders.
Another factor to the dynamics in the livestock Subsector is the phenomenon of Fulani Herdsmen whose nomadic activities leave trails of destruction, particularly on farms.
The backbones of the livestock industry are the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI).
An agency under MESTI Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR, has through its Animal Research Institute, ARI, produced a number of high-end solutions to the challenges facing the livestock subsector. The institute formulates animal feed to induce early growth and high performance in animals.
Part of the enhancements is the use of better breeds poached overseas to cross the local ones. Animal feed is a major issue as dilemma of shortages and open grazing presents their own unique problems and calls animal scientists to action with meagre resources.
