Ghana and Egypt Open Talks on Poultry and Feed Cooperation to Cut Import Reliance
Ghana and Egypt have opened discussions on cooperation in poultry production and animal feed as Accra tries to rebuild a domestic industry that covers only about 18% of consumption. Egypt, Africa's largest chicken meat producer, is meanwhile seeking export markets for its surplus.
Accra turns to Cairo for poultry expertise
Ghana has opened discussions with Egypt on cooperation in poultry production and animal feed manufacturing, part of a wider effort to revive a domestic industry that now covers only a fraction of national demand. According to Ecofin Agency, the initiative emerged from a meeting held on Tuesday, July 7, in Accra between Ghana's Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry and Wael Fathy Ahmed, Egypt's ambassador to Ghana.
A ministry statement said the two sides discussed potential cooperation in poultry production and feed manufacturing. Neither side announced a specific investment nor signed a formal agreement, leaving the talks at an exploratory stage for now.
A domestic industry that lost ground
Ghana was once largely self-sufficient in chicken. During the 1980s and 1990s, local production met up to 80% of domestic demand. The sector has since declined under several structural pressures: high animal feed costs, limited availability of day-old chicks, and inadequate infrastructure including hatcheries, processing facilities and cold-chain systems.
The gap is now wide. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ghana produced about 60,000 tonnes of chicken meat in 2023, covering only around 18% of domestic consumption, which reached an estimated 330,000 tonnes that year. The remainder is met largely through imports.
To reverse the trend, Ghana's Ministry of Food and Agriculture has been developing a poultry industry master plan since the start of 2026. The roadmap aims to improve the sector's competitiveness, attract public and private investment, and reduce dependence on imported poultry products.
Egypt's surplus looks for buyers
Egypt approaches the talks from a position of strength. The country was Africa's largest producer of chicken meat in 2024, with output estimated by the Food and Agriculture Organization at nearly 2.59 million tonnes. Its industry is one of the most developed on the continent.
Supply now exceeds domestic needs. In January 2026, the General Union of Poultry Producers of Egypt said the country had reached self-sufficiency and was producing 20% more poultry than the domestic market consumes. Official data cited by the association put daily output at 4.8 million chickens and 1.5 million trays of eggs. To absorb the surplus, the industry is seeking new export markets worldwide.
What it means for trade
The discussions point to two possible tracks. On one side, Egyptian expertise and inputs — breeding stock, feed technology and processing know-how — could support Ghana's plan to raise domestic output over time. On the other, Ghana remains an import-dependent market that Egyptian producers could target directly to place their surplus.
For now, the outcome is undefined. No investment figures, timelines or volumes have been announced, and the master plan is still being drafted. Importers and exporters watching West Africa's poultry trade will need to see whether the cooperation moves toward feed and production investment inside Ghana, or toward higher Egyptian shipments into the market — two paths with very different consequences for domestic producers and for the roughly 270,000-tonne gap between what Ghana makes and what it eats.
