Aquaculture training for women, men, and youth in Ghana

Midline assessment survey and action research are underway. Visit Ghana Tilapia Seed Project (TiSeed)’s project page.

The project

To improve access to quality fish seed and accelerate inclusive aquaculture development in Ghana, the project titled Accelerating Aquaculture Development in Ghana through Sustainable Nile Tilapia Seed Production and Dissemination (TiSeed) is being implemented by a consortium led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) with the Water Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-WRI), KIT Royal Tropical Institute in the Netherlands, WorldFish, Ghana Fisheries Commission (FC, a government institution), and two private hatcheries (S-HOINT Ltd. and Crystal Lake Ltd.) in Accra. The project runs from 2019 to 2022, and is funded by the Government of the Netherlands and the CGIAR Research Programs on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) and Fish Agri-Food Systems (FISH). The project aims to generate and share knowledge on how best to develop Ghana’s public and private hatchery sector and promote production of high-quality Nile tilapia seed and good aquaculture practices for small-scale cage and pond tilapia farmers. The specific objectives are to:

Improve the quality and service of public and private hatcheries

Increase access to and use of high-quality fish seed for new and existing producers, with specific attention to women and youth

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For more information about International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), visit IFPRI's website.

Learn more about TiSeed’s activities at our interactive page.

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Aquaculture trainings for women, men, and youth

A series of farmer trainings were conducted in July and August 2020. A total of 182 farmers, 15 commercial hatchery operators, and 30 zonal officers (of the Fisheries Commission) in Ghana’s six major aquaculture producing regions (Eastern, Volta, Ashanti, Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo) received training on good aquaculture practices. Each two-day session consisted of presentations on key topics by CSIR-WRI, IFPRI, and FC experts as well as field visits to nearby “model” farms. Training facilitators addressed farmers’concerns, including pond and cage preparation before stocking, feeds and feeding, water quality management, biosecurity, and harvest and marketing strategies. Farmers were grouped into training clusters of 20–30 farmers, and 10 trainings were conducted across the six regions. These practical trainings were supplemented by printed extension materials providing tips on different stages of tilapia farming. The farmers were also connected to a WhatsApp platform group where they can regularly interact on good aquaculture practices, production inputs, and market information and prices. Three training manuals, which consolidate knowledge on good management practices in hatcheries, pond tilapia farming, and cage tilapia farming, were developed, published, and widely disseminated among Fisheries Commission extension workers and farmers. The manuals were carefully drafted, bringing together both the latest developments from other countries and local context adaptation. A review meeting with 13 local experts was conducted for the local adaptation of these manuals. Extension materials were developed and disseminated to zonal officers and farmers.

Training assessment

In a post-training assessment questionnaire, farmers and hatchery operators rated the training sessions very favorably. Almost all participants rated the sessions 8, 9, or 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being excellent). “I was on the verge of stopping fish farming, but this training has urged me to go into it again,” said a farmer in Sunyani. “This training should be periodically conducted to help us have fresh ideas,” said a farmer in Dormaa. Fifteen young graduates (6 women and 9 men) from the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) and National Service Personnel also benefited from the training. These young graduates are being prepared to support the FC’s aquaculture extension services.

“I am a graduate of Hospitality Management, but have developed great interest in fish farming and will like to start my own fish farm together with a restaurant,” said a female NABCO graduate. Another female NABCO graduate indicated that the training exposed her to the importance of recordkeeping and ways to assist farmers in keeping good records using appropriate parameters, knowledge she can now use to better assist farmers during extension visits.

Stories of change

Impact stories

Joe Abudu

Gifty Sarfo

Nana Paul Chame

Male youth

Female youth

Male fish farmer and feed producer

Joe Abudu

Age: 27 Gender: Male Location: Techiman Zone, Bono East region Main livelihood: Crop and fish farmer

Joe Abudu is a youth farmer at Kroamah in the Techiman Zone of the Bono East Region of Ghana. He started his fish farm in 2017 and currently has four ponds with an average size of 540 m². Species grown are tilapia and catfish, which he obtains from the Pilot Aquaculture Center (PAC) in Kumasi. Joe is passionate about fish farming and wants to expand his facilities to increase production. He currently employs one person on the farm, and hires additional casual laborers during harvest periods. “When I started my farm, I did not have any training on aquaculture. My only knowledge about fish farming is what I gathered while working as a farmhand on a fish farm some years ago. As a result, I encountered many challenges when I first started my farm,” Joe explained. He uses freshwater from a nearby stream for his pond operations. The water quality in his ponds is very good, promoting healthy fish production. Feed used on the farm is Raanan Feeds (from the large-scale local commercial feed producer), but he intends to produce his own fish-feed. TiSeed training and evidence of change Joe reported, “I participated in TiSeed farmer training in July 2020 in Sunyani and this has helped me improve my farm operations tremendously.” Currently, Joe keeps good records on his farming activities. He indicated that “prior to the training I did not keep any records of my farm production, but now, I have good records of my finances and that has enabled me to track my farm expenditure to know whether am making profit or losses.” He also noted, “before I participated in the TiSeed training I used to lift water into my ponds with a motor pump at a great cost to my business. At the training, we were taught how to trap the moving water (stream) and carry out some treatment at the intake point to the pond as a biosecurity measure before the water is then channeled directly into the pond by gravity. I have applied this on my farm, and it has reduced my operations cost significantly and also improved the water quality in my pond.” As a form of biosecurity measures, he has erected physical barriers around ponds to ward off people and animals from the farm and constructed a water treatment system at the intake point before suppling water to the various production ponds. This, he says, is an important result of the recent TiSeed training for improving biosecurity measures on his farm.

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Farm sketch/plan

Harvest records

Sales record

Stocking record

Water quality record

Pest control plan for feed

Written sanitation plan

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Fish farmers’ recordkeeping practices (percent)

A baseline survey of 600 small-scale fish farmers in 2019 shows that farmers’ other business management practices, in addition to recordkeeping, were generally poor. As part of the training provided, the TiSeed project made samples of different record sheets available to farmers to guide them in good recordkeeping and marketing practices. The project is also piloting a mobile application (FishFarm Tracker) to assist farmers in their recordkeeping and business management. The midline survey in June–July 2021 shows major improvements in recordkeeping practices among the trained farmers.

Gifty Sarfo

Age: 28 Gender: Female Location: Amomaso, Dormaa Main livelihood: Teacher, mushroom farmer, and fish farmer, processor, and trader

Gifty Sarfo is a female youth and owner of Gift Edd Farms, located at Amomaso, near Dormaa. She smokes and salts table-size tilapia and catfish, adding value to the farmed fish. She started her fish farm in 2017, with the help of the local zonal officer , after visiting PAC in Ashanti and attending several trainings organized by FC and CSIR-WRI. She was also a beneficiary of the recent TiSeed training. Gifty cultures tilapia and catfish in seven ponds, averaging 350 m², that filled using groundwater and a borehole. As a biosecurity measure, physical barriers have been erected to keep people away from the facilities. She is the sole employee on the farm but hires laborers for weed-clearing and harvesting. Fingerlings are purchased from PAC, and Raanan feeds are used. She is now acquiring a pelletizer to produce her own feed. TiSeed training and evidence of change In the TiSeed training, Gifty learned about the importance of water quality and how to treat poor quality water. She also learned more about recordkeeping and marketing strategies and their value. As a result of the TiSeed training, she now adds vaue to tilapia and catfish through smoking and salting. The Tiseed WhatsApp platform allows her to connect with farmers within her cluster and beyond to buy their farmed fish for processing into smoked and salted fish for sale, thereby reducing postharvest losses. “We were taught about innovative ways to market our fish. As a result, I have started my own processing of fish which has helped in my marketing. Now am no more too worried about matured fish remaining in the pond for too long without getting to market or harvested fish going bad in the refrigerator due to power cuts. I process my tilapia into salted fish, and I smoke both tilapia and catfish for the market.” Gifty is hoping to expand her business into feed-production and a nursery, and is looking for technical and marketing support from the TiSeed project. “I believe the tilapia nursery model being proposed and implemented by the TiSeed project will help farmers a lot and I am interested in implementing the model on my farm so I can sell fingerlings to other colleague farmers within my zone. Currently, we travel over long distances to Kumasi to purchase fingerlings. The last time I purchase fingerlings from Kumasi, I purchased 15,000 fingerlings and over 1,000 died during transport due to the long distance.”

Figure 1: Farmers’ water management practices (percent)

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Maintains water quality record

Water quantity and quality are key components of all aquaculture ventures. Primary causes of water quality deterioration in the ponds are overfeeding, use of poor quality feed, overstocking, overfertilization of ponds, absence of regular water-quality monitoring, and generally poor water quality management practices, all of which are attributable to a poor understanding of fish-farming practices. Another major challenge associated with small-scale pond fish farming is the discharge of untreated effluents into water bodies. Farmers’ survey in 2019 show that only 9 percent of pond farmers reported treating water before discharging it to water bodies. Only 7 percent maintain water-quality records and 3 percent maintain waste-water management records. TiSeed is working with the Fisheries Commission to put in place measures such as scheduled water-quality monitoring programs for fish-farmers and regular training sessions on good farming practices. Many farmers have resources to purchase and invest in water-quality equipment if they understand its importance and there are appropriate incentives for this investment. One farmer said, “I purchased my own instruments to monitor pH and ammonia levels in my farm and this has helped me a lot.” The midline survey in June–July 2021 shows major improvements in water quality management practices among the trained farmers.

Nana Paul Chame

Age: 51 Gender: Male Location: Tano Zone, Bono Region Main livelihood: Cocoa farmer, fish farmer, and local feed producer

Nana Paul Chame started fish farming in 1999. He now has eight ponds of varying size; the biggest covers 525 m². Nana farms both tilapia and catfish, using underground water for his pond operations. Four family members assist him on his farm. Nana also produces his own local formulation fish-feed. He received local trainings in the past and participated in training programs in Nigeria and China sponsored by the FC. He has a feed pelletizer that converts locally formulated feed into pellets. The ingredients include wheat bran, soya, fishmeal, groundnut peel, and palm kernel oil, all sourced from the local market. He indicated that there is a ready market for his fish-feed, which he sells at GHS 60/20 kg. TiSeed training and evidence of change Nana participated in the TiSeed training program in July 2020. A farm visit by the project team in February 2021 confirmed that he has used the knowledge gained to improve production. According to Nana, he has changed some farm management practices since the training, including erection of physical barriers, improvement in water exchange in ponds, and discard of all inbred fingerlings in ponds. Furthermore, in line with one of the major objectives of the TiSeed project, during the training Nana expressed interest in establishing a tilapia nursery to enable him to supply fingerlings to other fish farmers in his catchment area. Following the TiSeed training, he started his own tilapia nursery to test the nursery business model as recommended in the training. He purchased fry from PAC at 2 grams/fry, raised them in one of his ponds, and sold them to other farmers in his area at between GHS 0.50 and GHS 1.00 per fingerling, depending on the size. There are about 23 farmers in Nana’s catchment area, and he has a strong link with the local zonal officer (FC official) who assists in advertising and sale of fingerlings.

Overall appearance of facility (% of farmers)

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Volta-cage

Volta-pond

Eastern-cage

Eastern-pond

Ashanti

Farmers’ survey in 2019 reveal that many farmers practice inbreeding and put few biosecurity measures in place. Based on a set of indicators to check and observations by the field enumerators, the vast majority of ponds and cages were rated very poor, poor, or somewhat good in terms of hygiene and sanitation, food safety, animal health management, and overall appearance and quality of facilities. The TiSeed project conducts farmer trainings and works with fish farmers to educate them on good sanitation practices and biosecurity measures. The midline survey in June–July 2021 shows major improvements in biosecurity measures among the trained farmers.

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Brong-Ahafo

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Maintains effluent management record

Able to show water effluent management record

Treats water before discharge

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Figure 2: Frequency of water quality checks (percent of fish farmers)

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34%

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Figure 3: Water quality check method (percent of fish farmers)

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Observes water color

Observes behavior of fish

Observes smell of water

Presence of algae

Uses instruments/ gadgets to check

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