Thursday, September 17, 2015

17/09/2015: Aquaculture in Ghana: Alternative feed sources

http://issuu.com/international_aquafeed/docs/iaf1504_w1/40
by Francis Ekow de Heer

First published in International Aquafeed, July-August 2015


After some years of mild growth, Ghana’s aquaculture industry is now set to play a crucial role in the economy, especially in closing the wide gap between local fish demand and domestic production, which burdens the nation with a high annual fish import bill. Quite a number of local and foreign investors are showing interest in this sector. One major issue set to give the industry a badly needed boost is the availability of alternative feed resources, which hold the prospect of significantly reducing the fish farmer’s production budget.

In 2013, the government launched the FAOfunded National Aquaculture Development Plan, which is being implemented over five years at a cost of US$ 85 million. The programme aims to improve the viability of the aquaculture business, and to raise national fish output from the present 27,750 metric tons to 130,000 metric tons by the end of 2018. Over 80 percent of commercial fish farmers in Ghana are engaged in the production of Nile tilapia, whilst the others are engaged mostly in the production of African sharp-tooth catfish. Demand for tilapia, a delicacy in Ghana, is very high, even though at between US$ 2.50 and US$ 3.00 per kilo it is way above the world market price.               

Read the full article in International Aquafeed HERE.

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