Sunyani, Jan. 11, GNA-Mr Hanson Kodzo Dzamefe Jnr, the Bono Regional Director of the Fisheries Commission has lauded the government’s flagship Aquaculture for Food and Jobs (AFJ) programme which has improved the region’s annual fish production.
He said the Tilapia Seed (Tiseed) module of the programme had also had a significant impact on fish production as well, thereby creating numerous job opportunities for the youth in the region.
“The programme has created an avenue to train the youth on aquaculture, and provided them with requisite skills in fish production”, Mr Dzamefe told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Sunyani on Tuesday.
He said since the implementation of the AFJ 2020, the programme had constructed 14 fish ponds and supplied beneficiaries including; the Wenchi Eagle Youth Association and Dormaa Senior High School with 18,800 tilapia and catfish fingerlings.
The beneficiaries were also provided with feed to enhance their fishing activities, he said and appealed to the government to extend the AFJ to benefit tertiary institutions and graduates as an alternative source of livelihood.
Mr Dzamefe explained the Tiseed module targeted hatcheries to develop quality tilapia fingerlings, saying “this particular module is being implemented in collaboration with the CSIR-Water Research Institute, International food Policy Research Institute and the Royal Technical Institute”.
Under the module, he explained more than 853 brood stock of tilapia fingerlings had been supplied to the Dormaa Fish Hatchery and Training Center and the BritAddo Farms at Abesim in the Sunyani Municipality.
“The Tiseed programme has come to help and would produce quality fingerlings and make them readily available to farmers to create additional jobs in the fishing value chain and improve the living standards of the people and guarantee food security as well”, Mr Dzamefe added.
GNA