Government to invest in fish farming

Koforidua, Nov. 4, GNA - The government in collaboration with a Chinese

company would invest in large scale fish farming in the Western Region. This was disclosed by the Minister for Fisheries Mrs Gladys Asmah at the

inauguration of the Eastern Regional branch of the Fish Farmers Association at

Koforidua at the weekend. She said already over 2,000 acres of land has been acquired at Asemasa

near Beposo to start the project. China is the world leading exporter of fish with annual export value of over

50 billion U.S. dollars, mainly from fish farming with the main exportable

cultured fish, being tilapia which originated from Ghana. She said over the last two year the Ghana government has invested over 1.5

million Gh Cedis into the fishery sector, which has made it possible for quite a number of fish farmers to benefit from input and credit scheme. Mrs Asmah said many fish farmers have benefited from pond construction,

fish seeds and fish feed credit. Mrs Asmah said that recognized fish farmers' associations stood a better

chance of benefiting from schemes established by her ministry and also having

easy access to credit from financial institutions. In a speech read on his behalf the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo

Afram Aseidu called for the exposure of the youth to the many advantages of

the fish farming and urged them to take it up as a profession. The Regional Chairman of the Association, Mr Samuel Afum Ankrah called

for the establishment of hatcheries to enable fish farmers to easily get access to fingerlings.