Akro-Farms has been selected as one of two farms in Ghana to collaborate with the Universityof Ghana on the Tropical Poultry Genetics Solutions (TPGS) Project, an International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) initiative.
With Ghana being a new country on the TPGS Project, Akro-Farms was selected as one of two poultry farms to incubate chicken eggs, hatch the fertilised eggs and mother the day-old chicks for five weeks before distribution to project beneficiaries. This project phase was carried out from December 2021 to February 2022.
Speaking on why Akro-Farms was selected as a partner on this project, Rev. Professor R. Osei-Amponsah ( National Co-ordinator for TPGS and Associate Professor, University of Ghana, Legon) noted that “Akro-Farms was selected because the farms are a key stakeholder in the poultry industry, have the state of the art equipment for hatchery operations and the human resource capacity for the job”.
As a people-centred farm that embraces scientific research and works with advanced poultry production systems and strategies, we see this partnership with the University of Ghana and the TPGS consortium as a testament to our commitment to excellence and knowledge sharing in the poultry sector. Also, TPGS’ aim of improving breeds of poultry adapted to the tropics aligns perfectly well with our strategy of collaborating on sharing knowledge concerning poultry breeds adapted to the tropics. This is an exercise we see as being important in the face of climate change and rising global temperatures.
Background
The Tropical Poultry Genetics Solutions (TPGS) Project is a follow up on the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)’s African Chicken Genetics Gain (ACGG) program.
The ACGG partners with international poultry genetics companies (Sasso/Hendrix Genetics; Kuroiler/Keggfarms; etc.), national/regional companies (EthioChicken, Silverlands Ltd, and Amo Farms) and national research Institutes in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania.
Therefore, as a follow-up, TPGS has established new partnerships with multinational poultry genetics companies, local private hatcheries and national agricultural research systems (NARS) for an innovative data-driven understanding of previously tested ACGG strains and new dual-purpose lines and crosses for their productivity, survival and farmer preferences in 3 new
countries – Kenya, Ghana and Zimbabwe including new agro-ecologies.
Compared to indigenous breeds, tropically adapted improved chicken breeds identified by TPGS have contributed to a 200% to 300% increase in chicken body weight and a 100% to 200% increase in egg production in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Nigeria.