The Chamber of Aquaculture Ghana is calling on government, Stakeholders and development partners in the Aquaculture Industry to provide support aimed at mitigating the challenges faced by the sector.

According to Jacob Adzikah, CEO of Chamber of Aquaculture Ghana, the Chamber launched a survey called Industry Needs Assessment Survey, which was made up of 51 major stakeholders during the first quarter of this year to evaluate the key challenges facing the sustainable development of Ghana’s Aquaculture industry.

“The responses collected revealed that despite the growing expansion of the aquaculture industry, the stakeholders in the industry are also faced with some challenges which must be brought to the attention of the relevant state agencies responsible and other stakeholders for the necessary actions to be taken”, he said.

The survey was conducted on value chain actors such as the fish farmers, fishmongers, aquaculture inputs sellers; fish feed producers, fish health experts, and aquaculture industry regulators.

At the end of the survey, the major challenges identified by the stakeholders were; high rate of diseases affecting the fishes, high cost of fish feed, lack of credit facilities, high cost of permit fees, and inadequate aquaculture extension services.

The responsibility of the Chamber of Aquaculture Ghana, industry players, academia, and regulators is to promote sustainable aquaculture practices.

The Chamber in consultation with aquaculture experts and other stakeholders provided some key recommendations that could help in developing a sustainable aquaculture industry and has called on the government to increase its support for the Aquaculture Industry by considering the recommendations it has provided.

Recommendations

The Chamber recommended that, regulators must ensure biosecurity protocols are observed at country entry points and in-country fish movement.

It said farmers should also engage the services of fish health experts to provide training in areas such as disease prevention and control on the farm.

The Chamber of Aquaculture Ghana also called on government to assist the aquaculture industry, by providing subsidies and tax reliefs or exemptions on feed components to reduce production costs.

Industry players were also called to advocate for the establishment of aquaculture fund by the government. This will enable businesses operating in the aquaculture industry to have access to low-interest loans to boost fish production.

It was recommended that the cost of acquiring requisite permits should be reduced by state agencies or even waived to enable all businesses operating in the aquaculture industry legitimize their activities. Moreover, the chamber said government could establish a one-stop-shop for the processing of permits instead of the current fragmented process.

It was recommended that stakeholders in the aquaculture industry must increase collaboration with the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, which is mandated by law to provide aquaculture extension services to farmers throughout the country.

Ghana’s aquaculture sector employs about 58, 000 people or 0.22% of the total population. Direct fishing contribution to Ghana’s economy is significant, accounting for 12% of the agricultural GDP and 10% working force.