By Solomon Gumah
Dalun (N/R), July 08, GNA – A total of 30 women and youth have undergone a week-long training on fish farming as part of efforts to help them venture into productive fish farming to earn decent incomes.
The training equipped them with knowledge on operating successful fish farming including various modules of fishponds, suitable breeds, and feeds for farming, harvesting techniques, marketing as well as entrepreneurial and management skills required to sustain their enterprises.
It formed part of the implementation of a five-year project dubbed: “Empowering Communities with Skills Development”, which is in partnership with ADICE Association in France, and funded by the European Union, whilst the Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA), an NGO, serves as the host organisation for the project.
Alhaji Osman Abdel-Rahman, Executive Director of GDCA, speaking during the climax of the training at Dalun in the Kumbungu District of the Northern Region, said it was not only tailored to equip participants with skills in fish farming to create employment avenues but also targeted at improving household nutritional resilience in the communities.
Alhaji Abdel-Rahman said fish farming was a lucrative business enterprise, which when ventured into with the right skills and expertise, could create more sustainable employment opportunities in the country.
He was optimistic that the skills imparted to the beneficiaries would resonate in their shared efforts and commitment to building resilient communities and creating dignified employment opportunities for young people in the area.
As part of measures to swiftly implement the skills acquired, participants were encouraged to prioritise mobilising resources at the community level by forming groups to lessen the financial burden required in starting a fish farm as an individual.
They were also tasked to train other community members to ensure that more people in the area were empowered with the knowledge and skills in fish farming to reduce poverty, hunger, and deprivation, especially among the youth.
The two volunteers from the ADICE Association of France; Guillem Marcet, and Mellity Nawfal, French volunteer, one of the two initiators of the project, who are supporting in the implementation of the project, expressed satisfaction at the level of commitment by participants and encouraged them to replicate the skills acquired in their communities.
Mr Guillem Marcet, in a closing remark, urged the beneficiaries to take the financial management of their enterprises more seriously to raise enough money to start their own farms within the shortest possible time.
Madam Meimunatu Haruna, who participated in the training, commended ADICE Association of France and the European Union for implementing the project and advocated the need for more partnerships for the project to help provide initial funding support and start-up kits to participants to effectively execute the skills acquired.
GNA