The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development has cut sod for the construction of a National Aquaculture Centre and a Commercial Farm Project.

The project includes the establishment of an aquaculture production training centre and commercial farm with facilities such as aquaculture indoor structures, classrooms, students and staff accommodation, mechanic workshop, packing warehouses and cold storage, a storage facility for chemicals and inputs, water reservoir, power station offices and car a park.

Speaking at the ceremony at Amrahia at Adenta in the Greater Accra Region, the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Hawa Koomson, explained, the project when completed will help to train and equip interested youth, especially university graduates, in entrepreneurial aquaculture production.

She indicated the centre is expected to provide training and start-up to 300 aquaculture entrepreneurs as well as produce 50,000 mt of fish within five years.

The modern aquaculture system that would be operated, she further explained, is made up of Recirculating Aquaculture System, biofloc systems and greenhouse aquaculture systems.

“The technology is similar to the greenhouse technology being implemented by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture for the cultivation of vegetables,” she averred.

The US$9.76 million project is expected to be completed within 12 months. It would provide to the teeming unemployed youth are part of the efforts of the government to accelerate the development of aquaculture towards job and wealth creation as well as bridge the gap between domestic fish demand and supply.

Hawa Koomson said the government is keen on harnessing the enormous potential Ghana has for aquaculture to ensure food and nutrition security as well as jobs and financial security for our youth.

She believes aquaculture development is critical for the country’s development, considering the fact that over the past decades fish catches from our marine subsector have decreased.

“The profit margins for the marine fisheries subsector are declining, with some, especially, the artisanal fishers making losses. The facility is expected to as an alternative measure that holds the prospect for quantum increase in fish production.”

The Contractor is M/S Agritop Ltd., an Israeli company based in Ghana and supervised by M/S ABA and Partners.