By Sharon Zoe Williams
Beneath the shimmering surface of Ghana’s waters lies a paradox. While the nation’s appetite for fish is insatiable, the industry tasked with feeding it, aquaculture is gasping for air between fragmented supply chains and a lack of specialized financing.
This tension took center stage on Wednesday February 25, at the Marriott Hotel during the high-level launch of “Blue Food: Crisis or Opportunity.” In a powerful departure from the status quo, the event featured an all-female panel of experts who dismantled the “crisis” narrative, offering instead a sophisticated blueprint for transforming Ghana’s “Blue Food” into a resilient economic pillar.
The Classroom of the Field: Training for Innovation
The conversation began with a call to move beyond theory. Dr. Eunice Konadu Asamoah highlighted that the backbone of any “Blue Hub” is skilled labor. However, she argued that traditional education isn’t enough to navigate modern aquatic challenges.
“At the core of skilled labour is training,” Dr. Asamoah asserted. “But for the hub to flourish, we need to move from the classroom to the field. We need training in innovation.”
She also noted the symbolic weight of the morning: “Though the industry is historically male-dominated, I am proud to stand with a panel of women leading this charge.”
From Pond to Table: Mending the Broken Chain. For Mdm. Mabel Quashie, the “crisis” in blue food is largely a result of disconnection. She described a “fragmented chain” where the links, breeders, farmers, and consumers are not hooked together.
“We need to move from table to pond,” Quashie explained, emphasizing that end-user education is the key to driving quality in aquaculture. She lamented the massive waste in the sector, noting that while the world uses fish skin and oil for high-value products, Ghana remains stuck in a cycle of just smoking fish.
Her solution? Risk mitigation. “Insurance for aquaculture must be considered.” We cannot grow if we are one disaster away from bankruptcy she implied.
The Logistics of Competitiveness. Mdm. Rebecca Avomo Diallo shifted the focus to the “Gold Chain”, the delicate logistical process of moving fish from water to consumer without losing quality. To Diallo, competitiveness isn’t just about being better than a neighbour; it’s about mastery of the process.
”Competitiveness means we understand every detail from start to finish,” she said. She urged the industry to prioritize digital coordination, suggesting that integrated websites and logistics tracking are no longer luxuries, but necessities to address the industry’s foundational challenges.
The Capital Hurdle: A Plea for “Patient” Money. Perhaps the most vocal submission came from Ms. Cynthia Ward Aboagye, who addressed the elephant in the room: Money. Aquaculture is capital-intensive, yet many farmers are drowning in short-term loans with impossible interest rates.
“We need to build a relationship with our bankers so they actually understand the field,” Aboagye stated. She called for a multi-stakeholder revolution:
For Farmers: Robust accounting to prove “investor-readiness.”
For Banks: Bespoke financial products designed for the unique growth cycles of fish.
For Government: Tax waivers and a shift in agencies like MASLOC from short-term to long-term “patient” capital.
For Regulators: The Fisheries Commission must enforce measures that protect the industry’s integrity.
The Real Measure of Success: Youth and Technology. Closing the discussion, Mdm. Emelia Edwina Nortey looked toward the future. For the “Blue Food” launch to translate into real-world impact, she argued that the industry must be demystified for women and the youth.
”Success is not just about an increase in the number of fish produced,” Nortey concluded. “It’s about exposing women to technologies that monitor water pH and ensuring the youth enter the business well-informed to prevent wastage.”
The Verdict.
The Marriott Hotel was filled with a sense of cautious optimism. The “Blue Food” initiative isn’t just a response to a food crisis; it is a call to treat Ghana’s waters as a sophisticated business ecosystem.
If the stakeholders can bridge the gap between the “pond and the table,” and if the financial sector finally learns to “speak fish,” the crisis of today will undoubtedly become the golden opportunity of tomorrow.
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Source:
www.gbcghanaonline.com
