The Fisheries Commission, together with the Greater Kumasi Fish Farmers Cooperative Union (GKFFCU) has acquired a space at the Kumasi Racecourse market to promote the sale of farmed fish.
This is to ensure that fish farmers gain the required profit from their investment since the farmed fish would be sold at standard prices at the market.
Mr. Gideon Boakye, the Ashanti Regional Director of the Fisheries Commission ,said the measure was to prevent cheating and help fish farmers obtain appropriate prices for their produce and thereby recoup their investment.
He said low and unfair prices made fish farmers hardly gain the needed profit from their investment, leading to losses and inability to expand investment in the aquaculture business.
“Fish farming is a very profitable business. However, fishmongers often purchase farmed fish cheaply from the farmers leaving them with less or no profit,” he noted.
Mr Boakye observed that due to the challenges in profit marginalization, some fish farmers had moved out of the business to other profitable ones, leaving the region with fewer fish farmers. This situation was affecting productivity in the sector.
The region in 2024, produced a total of 1,355 metric tons of farmed fish, which was a little above the 1,315 metric tons of farmed fish produced in 2023.
Another challenge Mr. Boakye noted was the high cost of fish feed and this also contributed to low production in the region.
He said the availability of farmed fish market, which would be regulated by the Fisheries Commission, would attract more investors and consumers of farmed fish in the region.
This would also improve productivity as fish farmers would be happy to continue to invest in aquaculture to contribute to protein food sustainability in the country.
Mr Boakye said the Fisheries Commission would ensure that quality and healthy farmed fish were sold in the market which would have all the standard equipment.
He noted that the formation of the Greater Kumasi Fish Farmers Cooperative Union (GKFFCU) was to make sure that all the fish farmers came together under the regulatory body.
The union would help maintain order among fish farmers and serve as a supporting body where farmers registered with them can benefit from.
Mr. Boakye called on other stakeholders to support the Fisheries Commission and the GKCU to realize its vision by providing a mini-farmed fish market in all the cities in the districts of the region.
Source : GNA
