BEWARE OF FAKE POULTRY PRODUCTS (PAGE 54)

Mr Ernest Owusu-Afari, Managing Director of Maridav, a poultry feed company, has warned poultry farmers against counterfeit poultry products on the Ghanaian market.
He said there were a number of both positive and negative developments in the field which farmers should be aware of in view of the rising cost of poultry feed and energy the world over.
Mr Owusu-Afari was addressing more than 50 poultry and livestock farmers, veterinarians and feed millers at a seminar at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Kumasi.
It was the second forum held by the Austria-based BIOMIN company, producers of poultry products.
He stressed that recently there had been an attempt to pass some DSM layer pre-mix (a powdered product for poultry birds) as a DSM product.
Mr Owusu-Afari, therefore warned poultry farmers to be alert not to patronise those products, since one negative development in the poultry market could be disastrous for the entire nation.
The resource person and Managing Director of BIOMIN, Mr Erich Erber, explained how micro-toxins such as fla-toxins had become a serious threat to livestock production around the world.
He said BIOMIN realised the extent of the problem in the tropical regions of the world and invested in research and development “to develop products that will neutralise the harmful effects of mycotoxins in livestock feeds”.
Mr Erber outlined in detail, the socio-economic, political and technological trends that would affect the future of the livestock industry globally over the next 20 years.
Another resource person, Mr Norbert Tratter, Area Manager of BIOMIN for sub-Saharan Africa including South Africa, said fish meal was on the increase all over the world and for replacement and to find a solution, farmers had to depend on global-proven feeds and additives.
This, he observed, would depend on performance enhancement, good quality material and quality veterinary programme.
The chairman at the forum, Mr Seth Bekoe Appiah, Managing Director of Agricare Limited, said Agricare Limited would continue to use Lysine, methionine, layer premixes and carophyll materials from Maridav in the production of quality feeds and also recommended animal drugs supplied by Maridav to poultry and livestock farmers all over the country.
“Agricare will continue to recommend input materials supplied by Maridav Ghana limited to the poultry and livestock farmers because of the positive results we have experienced from the use of their materials supplied.”