AGRIC MINISTRY TAKES STEPS TO BOOST ACQUACULTURE (BACK PAGE, NOV 14)

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) is to establish a farming chain development to boost aquaculture to address the shortfall in the production of fish in the country.
It will soon meet all stakeholders within the fish chain as a sequel to the move aimed at adding value to fish production and enhance aquaculture.
The acting Central Regional Director of the Fisheries Commission, Mr George Anti, made this known at the closing of a four-day sensitisation and training workshop in non-traditional farming businesses for farmers and fishermen in the Central Region at the Craft Production Centre at Abrafo-Odumase last Thursday.
The workshop, which was organised by the Central Regional Development Commission (CEDECOM), attracted 135 participants from the 11 districts in the region.
It was on the theme, “Inducing high economic growth in the Central Region through farmer’s capacity development in the non-traditional farming businesses”.
Participants were taken through pond construction and management, fish preservation, fish farm marketing and financing, snail farming, business planning, strategies and record keeping.
Mr Anti said the government had prioritised the promotion of aquaculture to solve the shortfall in fish production in the country.
About 300,000 metric tonnes of fish is imported annually to meet the fish requirement of about 700,000 metric tonnes.
He said the farming chain development project would provide a link among hatcheries, aquaculturalists, processors, users and distributors to enhance and strengthen their associations and make them viable.
Dr Fischen Prempeh of the University of Cape Coast advised snail and fish farmers to set standards to meet international requirements.
He further called on them to change their attitude towards their customers and package their products to make them more attractive.
He also called for collaboration between MoFA and the universities for information and technology, since the universities were engaged in research and had the relevant data on most of the challenges that confronted farmers.
Mr Atta Boakye, who gave an overview of the workshop, called on the participants to form associations and networking to facilitate their activities and boost their growth.
Mr E.N. Erskine, on behalf of the participants, urged the government to give non-traditional farming businesses the needed support to enable them to contribute their quota towards the economic growth of the country.
Earlier in his opening remarks, Mr Spencer Taylor, the acting Executive Director of CEDECOM, had said his outfit would continue to offer the needed technological know-how to those engaged in non-traditional businesses to enable them to create wealth and reduce poverty in the region.