🐄 Section 1 — Animal Setup
🌾 Section 2 — Feed Ingredients
Locally available Ghanaian feeds are pre-checked. Uncheck feeds you cannot source, or add others.
💰 Section 3 — Budget (Optional)
Formulate feed rations for West African Dwarf goats, Djallonkê sheep and local Ghanaian cattle using palm kernel cake, groundnut cake and locally available feeds. Prices in GHS.
Locally available Ghanaian feeds are pre-checked. Uncheck feeds you cannot source, or add others.
Ghana's livestock sector includes cattle (predominantly in the northern regions), sheep and goats (nationwide), pigs, and a rapidly expanding poultry industry. The country imports a significant portion of its meat requirements, particularly poultry, creating strong market incentives for domestic production expansion. The commercial poultry sector is concentrated around Accra, Kumasi, Tema, and Dormaa-Ahenkro, with several large-scale operations including Darko Farms, Akate Farms, and Boris Poultry. The feed industry has grown alongside the poultry sector, with commercial feed mills including GAFCO, Agricare, and several smaller operators producing compound feeds. Small ruminant production is important for household food security and income, particularly in the Guinea savanna of the north. The government's Rearing for Food and Jobs (RFJ) initiative complements the PFJ crop program by supporting livestock development, including improved feed access.
Ghana's feed ingredient supply draws on the country's diverse agricultural production. Maize is the primary energy source in commercial feeds, produced across the country but particularly in the Brong-Ahafo, Ashanti, and Northern regions. Soybean meal is increasingly available as soybean cultivation expands in the Northern, Upper East, and Volta regions, though imports still supplement domestic supply. Groundnut cake from the northern groundnut belt is a traditional protein supplement for ruminants. Copra cake from coconut processing in the coastal regions provides an economical feed ingredient. Palm kernel cake from the oil palm industry in the Ashanti, Eastern, and Western regions is a widely used, affordable energy and fiber source for ruminants and pigs. Wheat bran from flour mills in Tema provides an accessible energy and protein supplement. For ruminants, Guinea grass (Panicum maximum) and Stylosanthes guianensis are the most promoted improved forages, while natural savanna pastures of Andropogon and Hyparrhenia grasses provide the grazing base in the north. Cowpea and groundnut haulms are valuable crop residues for dry season feeding of small ruminants. Brewery waste from Accra Brewery and Guinness Ghana is a sought-after dairy feed ingredient in the Greater Accra region.
Feed costs are the biggest challenge facing Ghana's livestock sector, particularly the poultry industry, where feed represents 65 to 70% of total production costs. Maize prices follow strong seasonal patterns, with lowest prices during the major season harvest (August to October) and highest prices during the lean season (March to June), with swings of 30 to 50% being common. Poultry and pig farmers can significantly reduce costs by establishing bulk storage facilities to purchase maize at harvest prices for year-round use. Palm kernel cake and copra cake offer cost-effective alternatives that can partially replace more expensive soybean meal in ruminant and pig diets. For small ruminant farmers in the north, the strategic cultivation of fodder banks using Stylosanthes and Leucaena, combined with proper conservation of crop residues through improved storage, can dramatically reduce dry-season feeding costs. Major feed ingredient markets include Agbogbloshie and Ashaiman in the Greater Accra region, Kumasi central market, and Tamale market in the north. Farmers can save 10 to 20% by purchasing through cooperatives or directly from farming communities rather than through urban market intermediaries. The Livestock and Poultry Farmers Association of Ghana (LIPFAG) advocates for policy measures to reduce feed costs, including reduced import duties on raw materials not produced domestically.