UPPER EAST FISH FARMERS APPEAL FOR SUPPORT (PAGE 14)

Fish farmers in the Upper East Region have expressed concern about lack of logistics which is one major challenge confronting their business.
They mentioned lack of fishing gear such as nets, boats, cold storage facilities, life-saving jackets, access to fish feed and difficulty in getting fingerlings as problems facing the industry.
The farmers who depend on ponds, dams and rivers for their operations, said though there exist the potential for good business, the difficulties identified were posing a great challenge for their business and said the time had come for the government to give them the necessary attention.
The farmers who made the appeal when the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Nii Amasah Namoale, paid a working visit to the region said at times, they had to travel to Accra, Kumasi or Tamale to buy fingerlings and feed to stock their ponds and these made the venture too expensive and called for support.
Some of the fish farms the deputy minister included the Pwalugu Integrated Duck-Fish Culture Farm, the Vea Irrigation Fish Farm and Tono Irrigation Fish Farm.
He also interacted with members of the Gambigo Water Users Association, who utilise the water in the Gambigo Dam to produce fish as well as fishmongers of Kajelo. He also visited a fish processor in Bolgatanga.
At Vea near Bolgatanga, the chief of the area, Naba Thomas Azubire, said since the construction of the fish ponds in 1970, the laterals have broken down and the fish ponds are heavily silted making the ponds unable to contain the maximum requirement of fingerlings in each session of stocking.
He also mentioned inadequate credit facilities for farmers to start, expand and sustain fish farming as a serious drawback.
He, therefore, appealed to the government to go to their aid since that will go a long way to prevent the youth of the area from migrating down south in search of non-existing jobs.
An investor, Madam Faiza Ibrahim Taimako, said one other challenge confronting the industry was pilfering. He said in spite of all the measures put in place, some unscrupulous persons sneak in to steal the fish.
The Regional Director of Fisheries, Mr Ebenezer Wellington, who briefed the deputy minister on the state of fishing in the region said the region has the potential of producing enough fish for domestic consumption.
He said the total surface area for production in Tono is 5.07 hectares while that for fingerlings was 0.9 hectares and the total surface area for Vea was 3.6 hectares. He said if all these were to be operational and all things being equal, there will be increased yield.
Mr Wellington said the regional directorate of MoFA was working on a pilot integrated Duck-Fish Culture Project at Pwalugu along the White Volta, where farmers do fishing alongside duck rearing, which would be replicated in some parts of the region, especially in communities along the White Volta and Red Volta. He indicated that a lot of fish mongers have also been trained in a new technology of smoking fish to enable them to undertake large scale fish smoking.