Stakeholders in the aquaculture industry are lamenting the increasing cost of fish feed and materials in the market.

According to the Chief Executive of the Chamber of Aquaculture Ghana, Jacob Adzikah, the cost of fish feed has gone up by about 200%.

Again, the rising cost of ingredients such as maize and soya beans have resulted in the sector relying heavily on imports to produce feed for their fishes.

Speaking to Joy Business, Mr Adzikah said the high cost of feed accounts for the rising price of fish.

“These days the price of tilapia and cat fish are rising very fast and we need to take some drastic decisions to prevent this continuous increase in the prices of fish feed materials”, he said.

He added that many fish farms are closing down as a result of the high cost of production. This is equally leading to job losses in the aquaculture industry.

“A lot of farms are gradually going down because the cost of production is just too high and once these farms are collapsing, it has rippling effects. And we’re going to see job losses in the aquaculture industry”, he added.

Mr. Adzikah further made a call to the government to consider tax waivers and research to enable players in the sector to discover new ingredients for fish feed production, among others.