A blue revolution in sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from Ghana’s tilapia value chain
A blue revolution in sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from Ghana’s tilapia value chain

Author: Ragasa, Catherine

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published:

Total Pages: 31

ISBN-13:

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Global growth in aquaculture is underway – a “blue revolution” featuring rapid increases in demand for fish and a corresponding surge in aquaculture production. This paper describes the fast-growing tilapia value chain in Ghana to demonstrate the features of a nascent blue revolution in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and to illustrate its potential for job creation and reducing poverty and food insecurity there. Tilapia production has been growing at 15 percent annually in SSA, but imports are also surging to satisfy the growing appetite for tilapia. This paper illustrates how aquaculture can grow sustainably in SSA within the context of growing demand and global competition. A value chain analysis is conducted using secondary data analysis, desk reviews of experiences and lessons from other countries, interviews with 95 actors in the tilapia value chain in Ghana, and detailed production and profitability data from Ghanaian tilapia farmers. A profitable farmed tilapia industry has been established in Ghana with the potential to expand supply to satisfy local demand and to export to neighboring countries. Productivity in the industry has grown mainly through reducing the mortality rates of fingerlings and improvements in the supply of locally-produced high-quality fish feed. Feed costs remain high. However, there is potential to reduce those costs by improving the productivity of crops that are used in fish feed, particularly maize and soybean. Reducing local feed costs will have positive spillover effects on both other pond-based aquaculture systems and on the livestock feed sector. Moreover, Ghana can expand it fish feed production to be an important source of feed within SSA. The industry can further increase aquaculture productivity through the adoption of faster-growing fish strains and better management practices. Ghana’s aquaculture sector could grow even faster by adopting lessons from other countries, including on infrastructure provision, fiscal incentives for the production of fish feed ingredients, and sustainable fish farming practices, particularly through paying close attention to water and feed quality and addressing food safety concerns within the sector.

Author:

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published:

Total Pages: 74

ISBN-13: 9251388849

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Immediate impacts of COVID-19 on the aquaculture value chain in Ghana
Immediate impacts of COVID-19 on the aquaculture value chain in Ghana

Author: Ragasa, Catherine

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2021-04-27

Total Pages: 25

ISBN-13:

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Ghana’s aquaculture sector is among the recent success stories of fast-growing agricultural value chains in Africa south of the Sahara. The sector has also shown its vulnerability, with the infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus spreading through tilapia farms in Lake Volta in late 2018. The global COVID-19 human pandemic reached Ghana in early 2020, affecting the sector directly and indirectly. Using a value chain approach, phone interviews were conducted with 369 small-scale fish farmers in six major producing regions, with 12 other value chain actors, and with 423 consumers in the capital, Accra, to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the sector. All value chain actors interviewed reported being affected directly by COVID-19 related restrictions on movement and indirectly by reduced demand for tilapia because of closures in the tourism and hospitality industries, important consumers of fresh tilapia. The crisis has reduced incomes for most actors along the aquaculture value chain and is anticipated to reduce future production. Most fish farmers surveyed were affected by disruptions in input and output markets. Two-thirds of the sample farmers were growing fish and 6 percent were harvesting when the COVID-19 crisis hit. Fifty-four percent of those growing fish experienced difficulties in accessing inputs – mainly fish feeds. Of those harvesting during the crisis, most experienced difficulty in selling their fish mainly because of low demand from buyers, lower tilapia prices, and higher transportation costs than before COVID-19. Income losses among fish farmers, including from other sources, such as crop farming, wage employment, and other own businesses, limits the funds that they have available to finance fish farming operations or to invest in future production capacity. Likewise, reduced incomes and purchasing power of consumers is causing a sharp decline in demand for fish.

Involving women and youth in responsible investment in agriculture and food systems in Ghana
Involving women and youth in responsible investment in agriculture and food systems in Ghana

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2021-10-27

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13: 925134972X

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Women and youth-led agri-enterprises (WYE) (which may also be operating as family businesses) in agricultural value chains have been identified as catalysts for rural transformation given their potential for creating employment and stimulating value addition both on and off-farm. Given that agriculture and food systems are likely to remain the key generators of employment in Ghana over the coming decades, and that 80% of all activities in the midstream of food value chain are undertaken by SMEs in Africa. It is very much necessary to generate the evidence to support the argument that family, women and youth-led agribusinesses have a key role to play in the rural transformation pathway underway in Ghana.

Consumer demand and willingness to pay for safe food in Accra, Ghana: Implications for public and private sectors’ roles in food safety management
Consumer demand and willingness to pay for safe food in Accra, Ghana: Implications for public and private sectors’ roles in food safety management

Author: Ragasa, Catherine

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2019-01-10

Total Pages: 43

ISBN-13:

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Consumer demand for food safety is likely to be an important driver of public policies and industry-led efforts to reduce information asymmetry on food attributes and improved food safety. This paper examines the attribute demand for chicken meat and tilapia among 803 shoppers in Accra, Ghana. Freshness is the main attribute demanded by the overwhelming majority of shoppers, followed by food safety, price, taste and size. Consumers are willing to pay price premiums for food safety certifications, i.e., those certified according to Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles or certified as free of antibiotic residue. However, the price premium shoppers are willing to pay for improved food safety vary by shoppers type. A third of tilapia shoppers and half of chicken meat shoppers are classified as food safety conscious shoppers and willing to pay a 10 to 12 percent higher price than noncertified products. In comparison, only a tenth of shoppers are considered to be price conscious and willing to pay a small premium (< 1 percent) for certified safe foods. We also tested an information treatment on the negative health implications of food contamination and its effect on shoppers’ decisions. The information treatment randomly assigned to shoppers was a significant predictor of food safety attribute demand for chicken meat but not for tilapia, which may be linked to greater awareness of and concern about antibiotic misuse in poultry production. Our findings generally point to a concern about food safety and a strong demand and willingness among consumers to pay premiums for certified safe foods, thus providing support for public- or industry-led schemes to provide food safety information to consumers.

Inclusive business models for access to quality fish seed and technical assistance: Insights from Ghana
Inclusive business models for access to quality fish seed and technical assistance: Insights from Ghana

Author: Kruijssen, Froukje

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2020-07-08

Total Pages: 43

ISBN-13:

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Over the past decade, Ghana’s tilapia farming has experienced tremendous growth in production; however, much of the growth has been driven by large-scale cage farmers around Lake Volta. It remains unclear how this growth is and can be made more inclusive of poor and young women and men. This study was conducted to analyze different inclusive business models along the fish seed value chain that can potentially be implemented in Ghana. Based on literature review, field interviews, analysis of survey data, and stakeholder workshops, this study develops four business model prototypes for seed multiplication and distribution to increase farmers’ access to and use of quality tilapia seed: (1) Nursery , which buy fish fry from a reliable hatchery, transport them to locations near other farmers, and grow it to a larger size; (2) Local feed mill, with pelleting machine and technical knowledge to advise on feed formulation; (3) Agents, technical experts who supply fingerlings, handle transport and marketing, and provide technical advice; and (4) Local hatchery, which obtains brood stock from a reliable source, produces local fingerlings to sell to nearby farmers, and provides technical support. Initial ex ante financial and profitability analyses were undertaken and will be refined according to the actual context in the particular district where the sensitization and pilot-testing will take place. These business models have the potential not only to increase farmers’ access to and use of quality tilapia seed but also to provide livelihood and income generation along the fish seed value chain.

Characterization of fish farming practices and performance: Baseline study and implications for accelerating aquaculture development in Ghana
Characterization of fish farming practices and performance: Baseline study and implications for accelerating aquaculture development in Ghana

Author: Ragasa, Catherine

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2020-06-19

Total Pages: 43

ISBN-13:

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Over the past decade, the aquaculture sector in Ghana has experienced tremendous growth—driven mainly by large-scale cage farms—but it has been unclear how the rural poor have shared in this growth. A research project has been initiated to help diagnose, design, and test interventions for better inclusion of the rural poor, women, and youth in the tilapia value chain. This report describes the baseline data on 603 small-scale tilapia farmers in Ghana. The data collected during two-hour face-to-face interviews during May–July 2019 are disaggregated by socioeconomic indicators, gender, and age group. Baseline data show that 9 percent of farm managers and owners were women, and an additional 9 percent of farms engaged women in some decision-making. Moreover, women contributed 16 percent of family labor and 5 percent of hired labor on farms. Youth represented 14 and 24 percent of owners and managers, respectively, but contributed 68 percent of the total family and hired labor on farms. A large majority of managers and owners had at least high school education, with a third of owners and a quarter of managers attaining at least a college degree. In Brong Ahafo and Ashanti regions especially, most farmers engaged mainly in crop farming and non-farm businesses as their main livelihood, with fish farming as a small contributor to overall household income and livelihood. Farmers in all regions had poor record-keeping and management practices and low compliance with sanitation, fish health, and food safety standards. A wide variety of input usage, management practices, and performance was observed among fish farms. As a result, the profitability of fish farms was also wide-ranging, between –12.00 and 46.00 cedi per m2, with an average of 8.82 cedi per m2. Despite wide variability in production and profits, the majority of farmers experienced positive profits. On average, a farmer received a profit of 2.4 cedi per kilogram of tilapia produced or a 27 percent profit margin. These encouraging figures indicate that farmers who adopt good aquaculture practices can achieve respectable profits.

Changing the Face of the Waters
Changing the Face of the Waters

Author: World Bank

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2007-06-27

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 0821370162

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Aquaculture the farming of fish and aquatic plants has become the world's fastest-growing food production sector, even as the amount of wild fish caught in our seas and freshwaters declines. From fish foods and pharmaceuticals to management of entire aquatic ecosystems, acquaculture is truly changing the face of the waters. Increased growth, however, brings increased risk, and aquaculture now lies at a crossroads. One direction points toward the giant strides in productivity, industry concentration, and product diversification. Another direction points toward the dangers of environmental degradation and the marginalization of small fish farmers. Yet another direction invites aquaculture to champion the poor and provide vital environmental services to stressed aquatic environments. 'Changing the Face of the Waters' offers a cutting-edge analysis of the critical challenges facing aquaculture, balancing aquaculture's role in economic growth with the need for sound management of natural resources. The book also provides guidance on sustainable aquaculture by evaluating alternative development pathways, placing particular emphasis on the application of lessons from Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Aimed at policy makers, planners, and scientists, this book provides a comprehensive frame of reference for orienting ideas and initiatives in this dynamic industry.

Fish to 2020
Fish to 2020

Author: Christopher L. Delgado

Publisher: WorldFish

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 089629725X

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The seemingly inexhaustible oceans have proved to be finite after all. Capture of wild fish have leveled off since the mid-1980s, and many stocks of fish are fished so heavily that their future is threatened. And yet the world's appetite for fish has continued to increase, particularly as urban populations and incomes grow in developing countries. Aquaculture--fish farming--has arrived to meet this increased demand. Production of fish from aquaculture has exploded in the past 20 years and continues to expand around the world. But will aquaculture be sufficient to provide affordable fish to the world over the next 20 years? And what environmental and poverty problems will aquaculture face as it expands? Using a state-of-the-art computer model of global supply and demand for food and feed commodities, this book projects the likely changes in the fisheries sector over the next two decades. As prices for most food commodities fall, fish prices are expected to rise, reflecting demand for fish that outpaces the ability of the world to supply it. The model shows that developing countries will consume and produce a much greater share of the world's fish in the future, and trade in fisheries commodities will also increase. The authors show the causes and implications of these and other changes, and argue for specific actions and policies that can improve outcomes for the poor and for the environment.