Fish is an important food product in Ghana, accounting for 60 percent of the national dietary animal protein. Increasing urbanization and corresponding dietary shifts have fueled rapid increases in demand for certain types of fish. In Accra, for example, consumers have shifted in recent years from salted and smoked fish to consuming large quantities of fresh tilapia, much of it prepared by roadside restaurants. With regards to production, the presence of one of the largest man-made lakes in the world, the Volta, provides an almost-ideal resource for cage culture in Ghana.
Does the increased demand for tilapia mean that Ghana is ready for a blue revolution, with an imminent surge in local aquaculture production? A recent GSSP working paper, "A blue revolution in sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from Ghana’s tilapia value chain," explores this question
Catherine Ragasa et al. interviewed a broad range of actors and adopted a value chain approach to examine the constraints and opportunities of developing the tilapia sector, from production to marketing. They analyzed farm profitability and drew lessons from other country experiences.
Profit margins are high in Ghana, but the authors also list several constraints facing the sector. Despite recent improvements, there is still a need to reduce feed costs, improve hatchery management practices, and crucially, accelerate the process of introducing improved strains. In other countries, aquaculture development was mainly driven by private sector, while government supported through better infrastructure and enabling policies. Ghana could improve support to its aquaculture sector by adopting some of these institutional and regulatory approaches.
Thus, the study suggests that there is a nascent blue revolution in Ghana, with a profitable tilapia value chain, consumers’ growing preference for tilapia, and soaring tilapia prices. However, securing and sustaining the blue revolution in Ghana will require policy actions and institutional arrangements to attract investments into the sector, improve productivity and build resilience to disease on tilapia farms.
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