Investing Locally to Improve Production When Kofi Gyamfi left Ghana to study in the United States at age 18, few would have thought that he would return to Tamale nearly twenty years later to start his own business. “I earned a graduate degree in economics and philosophy at Duke University in North Carolina, but I was always intrigued by business ownership,” said Mr. Gyamfi. Having successfully run his own supermarket for many years in the U.S., Mr. Gyamfi longed to use his business skills in Ghana. “Ghana is a tough business environment and when many Ghanaians living abroad see the difficulties, they usually decide not to return home,” said Mr. Gyamfi. Knowing the challenges, he researched the Ghanaian market for two years before deciding to invest his life’s savings—but his decision to focus on guinea fowl processing was more by chance than design.
of equipment, a blast freezer. All along, he received technical support from Dr. Gabriel Teye of the University for Development Studies. “I showed up on market days in Tamale and Bolgatanga and soon many farmers got to know that I was looking to buy guinea fowl,” said Mr. Gyamfi. His plant significantly increased attempts in commercial farming of guinea fowls in the region, but the harsh climate meant a high mortality rate for the young keets. This drew Mr. Gyamfi to become involved in production matters, but he soon discovered that to be successful, he needed to build partnerships.
A guinea fowl
processor in Tamale increases incomes for local farmers
As a result, he contacted Dr. N. Karbo and others of the Animal Research Institute (ARI). Researcher Franklin K. Avornyo of ARI explained that, “By using incubators and the appropriate medication we were able to increase the keets’ survival rate.” ARI then sells these healthy keets to farmers who can then choose to sell the mature fowl to Mr. Gyamfi or other buyers.
by purchasing large quantities of their
One day while standing in line at an Accra post office, Mr. Gyamfi overheard a woman speaking on her mobile phone, attempting to purchase large quantities of guinea fowls to barbeque for a celebration. Listening to her conversation, he realized that while many enjoyed eating the speckled native bird, it was not always readily accessible in larger cities like Accra. Within one year of his decision, Mr. Gyamfi managed to set up, “Gee,” a state of the art processing plant. He built a large pen for newly arrived fowl, several areas for the processing, two cold store areas, and his most coveted piece
birds.
Although Mr. Gyamfi has gained expertise in guinea fowl production by attending workshops in Niger, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Mali, and has even joined forces with the northern Guinea Fowl Value Chain, his greatest challenge is in marketing his product. In response to this, GTZ recently offered to help organize a trade show for guinea fowls. “GTZ knows that by helping me, they can help the farmers…Through me, farmers now have a reliable buyer for their guinea fowl.”