The poultry industry is a major source of employment for most of the people in the two districts, reports GhanaWeb.

Nana Asamoah Sebreku, Chairman of the Dormaa Poultry Farmers Association, an umbrella union of nearly 200 poultry farmers in the districts, revealed the industry's precarious situation at a press briefing at Dormaa-Ahenkro on Wednesday, 1 June.

He said the situation had triggered panic buying of the birds, which had also resulted in arbitrary increase in the price of maize in the area. Nana Sebreku said most of the youth in the area had turned to cocoa farming following government continued interventions and subsidies for cocoa farmers and this had adversely affected maize production.

Nana Sebreku said the union had therefore sent an 91SOS' appeal to government to consider releasing its buffer stock maize for poultry farmers without further delay. Failure to do this, he said, would result in the farms folding up and throwing tens of thousands in the industry chain out of employment, thereby worsening the country's unemployment situation.

The 2006 National Best Poultry Farmer, Adama Musa, appealed to government to ignore middlemen and deal directly with the farmers' associations to ensure stability of maize price.

He called on government to review downward taxes on imported yellow maize as its absence on the market had worsened the plight of poultry farmers.

The union called on the government to also consider introducing similar interventions in the cocoa industry in other sectors of agriculture.