Healthy Food Africa project to produce additional 91,000 mt of fish.
Ghana will produce an additional 91,000 metric tonnes of fish for fours years under the Healthy Food Africa Project, Dr. Seth Koranteng ( FSL Laed ) CSIR Said Aquaculture Development, has informed.
Ghana’s annual fish production stands at 465,000 metric tonnes but He annual demand is over million metric tonnes.
The project, starting from June 2020 to December 2024 is on the theme “ Improving Nutrition in Africa by Strengthening the Diversity, Sustainability, Resilience and Connectivity of Healthy food Africa Systems”.
The Project is being undertaken by a consortium of 17 partners, made up of academic, research, government and private sector organisations in 6 countries in West, Africa.
In Ghana, the project is being implemented by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Water Research Institute and CSIR-Food Research Institute.
The Project aims to undertake open science with policy makers and community people working with scientists to build capacity, develop and manage sustainable food systems to promote transformation.
Dr. Seth Koranteng ( FSL Laed), CSIR said the project was timely because it would help address challenges and harness opportunities in present food systems towards sustainable, resilient and enhanced connectivity in Ghana and other African countries.
He said Ghana fish demand annually was over million metric tonnes and that aquaculture will help bridge the production gap.
Dr. Seth Koranteng ( FSL Laed ) CSIR informed that through innovating aquaculture production technology, improving growth rates and survival of locally cultured fish and enhancing protein utilization for efficient feed management, would contribute to sustainable and resilient aquaculture.
He said there was the need to promote production of value added products throughout the value chain from harvesting to marketing to exploit the economic potential of fisheries.
Technology and Innovation, said the Ministry would support in the successful implementation of the Project for better outcomes.
He said the Healthy food Africa had its policy framework on environment, biodiversity,food safety and climate change which would support and regulate processes involved in achieving the objectives of the Project.
Dr. Seth Koranteng Agyakwah, Coordinator of the Project, said current food and farming systems in Africa were not too sustainable and had caused severe environmental degradation and food loss called for reformation.
The story by Fada Amakye from Daily Sun 106.com
