SPGE/ILO Credit Union to reactivate fishponds

Effutu-Attekyedo (C/R), Sept 6, GNA - The ILO-initiated Sub-Committee on Productive and Gainful Employment (SCPGE) operating in the Effutu Municipality, has completed feasibility studies and other vital arrangements for the reactivation of four out of the 44 abandoned fishponds located at Effutu-Attekyedo, near Winneba, in the Central Region.

The fishponds were constructed by the late A.C. Acquaah, one time National Chairman of the Contractors Association of Ghana (CAG), in the early 1980s, with the support of Attekyedohene, Neenyi Amponsah Attah I, who offered the late Acquaah adequate land to establish the project. It is a joint initiative by the leaders of the SCPGE and the management of the Winneba-based Edwumapaye Co-operative Credit Union, both the brain children of the ILO.

Mr George H. Acquah, Chairman of the Effutu Municipal SCPGE, disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Winneba during the weekend.

The interview formed part of a two-day intensive workshop organised jointly by the SCPGE and the Credit Union for the seven-member management team appointed to implement the project. Elder Ebow Dadzie an opinion leader and a member of the Board of Directors of the Edwumapaye Credit Union, is the head of the SCPGE/Edwumapaye Credit Union Fishponds Development Project Implementation Team.

Others are, Madam Grace Love Osae, Board Chairperson, Edwumapaye Credit Union, Mr George H. Acquah, Chairman of the SCPGE, Mr Albert Mensah, Municipal Fisheries Officer and representative of the Effutu Municipal Assembly on the team, and Mr Kingsley Arkoh-Sam Manager of the Edwumapaye Co-operative Credit Union.

Participants at the workshop included two representatives of the Effutu-Attekyedo community, and one from the Effutu Municipal Assembly. They were taken through subjects including, pond construction, management and harvesting, preservation and fisheries regulations.

Nana Owusu Tenase I, Saamanhene of the Assin Attandasu Traditional Area, a retired Director of Education and President of the National Fish Farmers Association (NFFA), conducted the training under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Known in private life as Mr Ambrose Eric Owusu, Nana Owusu Tenase who is also the National Best Fish Farmer for 2007 and an expert in aquaculture activities, is currently acting as the principal consultant for the initiative of the Effutu Municipal SCPGE/Edwumapaye Co-operative Credit Union Fishponds Development Projects.

Closing the workshop, Nana Owusu Tenase praised the two sister organisations for their foresight and expressed the optimism that the move would create adequate employment opportunities for the unemployed youth in and around Effutu-Attekyedo.

He promised to establish a strong and formidable collaboration with the implementing body to ensure the speedy realisation of goals it has set for itself.

Nana Owusu Tenase said that feasibility studies conducted, which followed the official inspection on the project, clearly indicated that with adequate financial support from the government, donor organisations and interested financial institutions, the project would definitely make a useful impact on the lives of people in and around the Effutu Municipality in no time. According to Nana Owusu Tenase, preparations of the four selected ponds would cost GH¢8,000 but the estimated economic returns expected at the end of the first harvest period when the project becomes operational, will go a long way to place the project on a sound financial footing. He said that all being well, a total of 32 tonnes of tilapia fish will be harvested at the initial harvesting time which would accrue an amount of GH¢128,000 (one hundred and twenty-eight thousand Ghana Cedis).

Nana Owusu Tenase mentioned educational institutions, hospitals, hotels, fishmongers and workers as the target groups to whom products from the fishponds would be sold. He added that plans had also been put in place for the establishment of specially-designed tilapia fish distribution cold stores at vantage points in Kasoa, Winneba Junction, Apam and Agona Swedru as the project grows. He appealed to government and the Effutu Municipal Assembly to mobilise adequate logistics and financial support for the project to take off as planned by the initiators of the project to ease some of the problems associated with unemployment, in the area.