Cheap Chickens (or, something is a-fowl in Ghana)

I'm constantly surrounded by chickens. I don't mean lily-livered cowards or fraidy-cats. No, I'm talking about the birds. Poultry. Fowl. Most mornings, I wake up to the familiar sound of a rooster crowing (just like in the cartoons, except for way more annoying). Sometimes they can be bothersome (example: when I'm in court, attempting to listen to a very soft-spoken judge ). Still, if I had to make a soundtrack of noises that captured my experience in Ghana, rooster caws would definitely be in my Top 6.

Just for fun, here are the other five (in no particular order):
-Young girls selling sachets of "ice pure water" (aaaaiiiice pyuuuah waaaataaaa!)
-The raspy calls from tro-tro mates (accraccraccra ... serkserkserkserk).
-Car horns, usually in rapid succession (taxi drivers trying to drum up business)
-Children chanting "Obruni! How are you? Obruni! How are you?" (obruni = white person)
-Akon (He's huge here)

Prior to May, I had been a vegetarian for around two and a half years. I'm not particularly concerned about animal rights (there's no sense in treating them cruelly, but I'd much rather test a new drug on a rabbit instead of a person). It's not really a decision motivated by health concerns, either (I still eat terribly). For me, it's a choice that has to do with sustainability and consumption reduction. I could throw stats at you regarding the amount of water and/or energy required to produce a pound of beef versus a pound of grain, but I'll trust that you can Google those figures as well as I can.

When I accepted this internship, I decided that I would renounce vegetarianism whilst in Ghana. My reasoning was threefold. Firstly, I figured that my cultural experience would be more immersive if I was able to fully experience the local cuisine. Secondly, I reasoned that the meat production industry in Ghana would not resemble the factory-farms of North America, and would therefore not have as great of a negative environmental impact. Finally, (and this is selfish) I am too lazy to play "dodge the meat" for a whole summer in a country where vegetarianism is a completely foreign concept.

I have thoroughly enjoyed local food (the main staples - fufu, kenkey, wakye, etc. - are often served in a meat-based sauce). Ghanaians are very eager to share their culture with foreigners, and are often very excited when Westerners enjoy their food (our genial taxi driver last night: "Oooo! You know red red?! I like that very well! Very well!"). So my rationale is sound on the first point.

However, I was sad to discover that rationale number two doesn't check out at all. The vast majority of chicken consumed in Ghana is not be locally or sustainably farmed. Rather, it is flown in frozen from Europe. EU farmers, who receive generous subsidies, produce more meat than is required domestically. The excess meat is then imported to the Ghanaian (and other African) market(s). Normally, in such a situation, countries introduce tariffs to protect their local industry. However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made it clear that it opposes a high tariff regime, and Ghanaian leadership has bowed to this pressure. This leaves Ghana unable to protect its local industry, since local farmers (both small-scale and large-scale) cannot compete with the cheap, subsidized foreign imports. It's not a phenomenon restricted to the poultry industry, either. The rice and textile industries have been similarly crippled by foreign imports. My place of work, the Center for Public Interest Law, has actually done some work on this issue (Dr. Ayine, our Director, is quoted in the first article listed below).

It's crazy to think that a country with so much natural farmland has to rely on imported chicken and rice, but that's exactly the situation in which Ghana finds itself.

For further reading:
CorpWatch - Playing Chicken: Ghana vs. the IMF
Subsidized imports decimate the Ghana poultry industry
TRADE-GHANA: The Chilling Effect of Frozen Poultry Imports

In other news:
-Obama arrives tonight! The city is almost vibrating with palatable excitement
-I still need a haircut