Jonas Osafo Adamu, Managing Director of Hambeg Farms, a budding poultry farm at Anum in the Eastern Region, has slammed governments over the years for paying lip-service to the development of the poultry industry in the country.

He said past governments had displayed timidity in the face of international trade pressures, thereby incapacitating local farmers' ability to breed chickens for the table.

Mr Adamu was interacting with journalists on his 14,000 layer farm at Anum. He said this as part of activities to mark the 27th Annual General Meeting for the Anum Rural Bank.

He said chicken imports had saturated the Ghanaian market limiting local farmers' ability to put more eggs on the market.

Mr Adamu said the poultry sector contributes significantly to the national economy in terms of job creation.

He, therefore, urged government to devise some means of protection, as done in Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire, to allow the local industry to develop.

Mr Adamu said capacity building in breeding skills, capital, appropriate housing and feed quality were important areas that needed to be tackled in developing the poultry industry.

Thoedore Kwame Gyau, Anum Rural Bank Board Chairman told the shareholders that the bank posted a profit of 287,723 cedi (GHS) in 2009, compared to GHS97,996 in 2008.

He said the Bank's current stated capital was GHS400,000, exceeding the Bank of Ghana's (BOG) stipulated amount for Rural and Community Banks.

Duke Osam-Duodu, Deputy Managing Director of the ARP Apex Bank Limited, the supervising authority of Rural and Community Banks, recommended mergers to rural banks to enable them to meet the growing competition in the sector.

He said BOG capital requirement would eventually increase and therefore urged the rural banks and others to raise more shares.

Mr Osam-Duodo again warned rural banks that they would go out of business if they did not improve on their customer services.

He said: "Today's banking is dependent on the provision of quality services to customers. The big banks continue to lure customers of smaller banks such as yours, through these quality services."