$12m National Aquaculture Training Centre inaugurated -To build capacity, shore up fish production
A cutting-edge National Aquaculture Training Centre and Commercial Farms project sited at Amrahia in the Adentan municipality in the Greater Accra Region has been inaugurated.
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Established by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, the $12 million facility will ensure the production of, at least, 25 tonnes of tilapia, 25 tonnes of catfish and four tonnes of prawns annually.
It is also meant to ultimately keep on increasing fish production, lead to reduction in fish imports and the enrichment of local capacity and technical know-how through the training at the centre.
Quality fish
Inaugurating the project last Thursday, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said the aim of the centre was to produce quality fish products and create employment through the training of the local population as fish farmers, with emphasis on graduates from the country’s universities.
He explained that the centre complements the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development’s programme dubbed: Agricultural for Food and Jobs, and reaffirmed government’s determination to reduce graduate unemployment in the country.
Water bodies
The President further explained that as water bodies dry up and become polluted due to human activities, there was pressure on land acquisition, therefore, the modernisation of aquaculture must involve the utilisation of less space of water, but at the same time, increase productivity.
President Akufo-Addo indicated that one such modern technology that had these attributes was a recirculating aquaculture system - RAS - which was being employed by the centre.
He added that not only did the system offer minimal maintenance cost and relatively low to moderate energy consumption, but it also guaranteed the production of healthy and export-ready products.
Stats, threat
Providing some statistics of the sector, the President said it was estimated that some three million people were employed along the entire value chain of the fisheries and aquaculture sector, with some 60 per cent of the nation's annual protein derived from the fishing sector which contributed about 11 per cent to agriculture’s GDP.
“It employs about 20 per cent of the nation's workforce, both direct and indirect. Last year, the nation earned some $254 million from the export of fish and fish products,” President Akufo-Addo said.
He expressed worry that marine stock faced significant threat from pollution, biodiversity loss, ocean dumping, overfishing and other maritime threats, including overexploitation, illegal unreported and unregulated fishing, piracy and trafficking.
“These avoidable threats affect the livelihoods of millions of people, they affect food security prospects, they affect critical infrastructure and they affect important ecosystem,” he added.
Solution, sustenance
President Akufo-Addo noted that it was to address the challenge of dwindling catches from the sea and increasing demand for fish that the government in 2019, granted approval for the implementation of the greenhouse agriculture technology system.
That, he explained, was to help increase food and domestic fish production, increase expertise in agriculture and create jobs for the youth. That was why the sod was cut from the realisation of the project in September 2021.
The Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Hawa Koomson, announced that the ministry had prepared a new aquaculture development plan to be implemented between 2023 and 2027 for the sustainable development of the sector.
She said the implementation of the plan was expected to improve aquaculture production from 89,376 metric tonnes in 2021 to 211,697 metric tonnes by the end of 2027.
“The operationalisation of the centre will also help to improve the implementation of the Aquaculture for Food and Jobs initiative being implemented by the ministry by providing the needed practical training to beneficiaries of the initiative to improve their skills and capacities,” she added.