Mrs Sena Okiti Dua, Deputy Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture, has urged stakeholders in the fishing industry to ensure that safe quality fishing is done to enhance production and help produce enough fish for local consumption.
The Deputy Minister said that at the joint programme of 2013 Farmer’s Day Sponsorship Awards night and the launch of 30th National Farmers’ Day to be held this year. The 2014 Farmers’ Day Celebration would be on the theme: “Eat what you grow”.
She said the Ministry had set up the Fisheries Enforcement Unit (FEU) to enforce the fisheries laws with a view to ensuring sustainability of Ghana’s fish resources, adding that the FEU was seriously monitoring fishing activities of fishermen to prevent them from engaging in illegal fishing practices.
According to the Deputy Minister the theme, which is in line with the policy direction of the ministry seeks to pursue measures that would bridge the gap between Ghana’s fish production and consumption levels.
She acknowledged Ghanaians love for fish which was the highest in the world with a per capital consumption of between 23-25kg as against the world average at 13kg.
According to her fishing products contributed 60% of animal protein requirement of Ghanaians however the challenge was how to meet Ghana’s local demand for fish when the demand for fish in 2013 was estimated at over 968,000 metric tons but local production was about 50%.
She disclosed that that gap was filled by fish imports adding that 50% of Ghana’s fish demand was imported.
Hon. Okiti Dua hinted that the Ministry’s policy was to increase fish production through aquaculture hence it had initiated programmes in that direction.
She observed that a 5-year period (2013-2018) Aquaculture Development Plan drawn by the ministry sought to improve production, marketing, environmental sustainability and social acceptability of fish farm as a viable business enterprise.
She emphasised that Ghana would be generating employment and revenue for fisher folks, save foreign exchange for the importation of fish whilst providing about 220,000 jobs to her people.
She called on fishermen in the marine and island fishing sector to engage in safe and quality fishing, avoid the use of unauthorised materials in fishing such as light fishing, inappropriate net size, dynamite and others which deplete the fish resources.
She expressed the appreciation of government to all organizations which generously sponsored the awards of hardworking fishermen and farmers in previous years and prayed for God’s blessings to enable them continue to support the celebration.
On his part, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Mr Fifi Fiavi Kwetey acknowledged the continued and consistent support of organizations to augment the efforts of Government.
“It is for this continues support from these organizations that the decision was taken by the two ministries to show appreciation to the farmers and fishers,” he noted.
He underscored the need for sponsorship for the farmers’ day celebrations since government could not commemorate the event without support from key sponsors.
According to him the launch of the Broiler Revitalization Project a few days back was to emphasize the need to promote local produce.
Additionally he hinted that other initiatives had also been undertaken to promote the production of rice locally and called on farmers not to relent in their efforts.
He encouraged sponsors and other stakeholders as he took up the mantle of leadership at the ministry to offer him support, advice and ideas to be able to tackle the challenges that affected the sector so that they could address them to ensure food security, high income and employment for many in the sector.
The outgoing Minister for Trade and Industry, Haruna Iddrusu observed that government was committed in offering support to indigenous Ghanaian poultry companies in the country.
He said that government spent GHC 350 million to import rice and GHC 322 million to import poultry products from outside even though the country had the capacity to produce enough to feed the nation.
He opined that government as part of efforts to encourage the youth especially females to go into poultry farming would dedicate about GHC 1.5 million of that financial package to support the females whilst GHC 1million would be given to the males.
He added that this initiative would address government’s commitment of reducing import and increasing export of poultry product and other domestic products, adding that government was aware of what the industry could contribute to the economy.
Source: Business Ghana