The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development has launched Aquaculture Forum to bring industry players to share ideas and innovative ways of promoting the aquaculture sub-sector.
The Forum is also aimed at increasing marine and inland fish production, creating job opportunities and attracting investors to the sector.
The sector Minister, Mavis Hawa Koomson, who launched the Forum in Accra on Thursday said the outcome of the Sustainable Development Impact Summit of the World Economic Forum showed that aquaculture is currently the fastest growing food industry, accounting for over 50% of the total seafood supply globally.
She added that aquaculture is a viable option to supplement production from marine and inland waters to meet the rising demand for fish, adding that it was anticipated that production will increase from 64,000 metric tonnes in 2020 to 132,710 metric tonnes in 2026.
Madam Koomson announced the Ministry’s readiness to create a conducive environment to improve the state of fisheries and aquaculture through regulatory reforms aimed at sanitising the industry to enable it to contribute more substantively to the agriculture sector.
She said networking and collaborating with diverse supply chain actors could pave the way for building the capacity of operators to resourcefully overcome challenges relating to production, marketing and management in the sector to remain competitive and profitable.
Dzifa Hukporti, ISD
