Resource-poor farmers demonstrate success in pilot fish farming venture in

northern Ghana

Bolgatanga, December 7, 2015– The Songtana (“Help Has Come”) Aquaculture Group in Pusu-Namongo, Talensi District, has won the 2015 regional award for the best aquaculture group in Upper East Region.  The Regional Director of Fisheries, Mr. E. A. Wellington, commended the group at a ceremony held at the Regional Ministry of Food and Agriculture offices today and handed over tools and equipment for them to use in their activities.

The fifty resource-poor female and male farmers who make up the group had never reared fish before 2014 when the Resilient and Sustainable Livelihoods Transformation (RESULT) project introduced aquaculture to their community. With training, inputs and equipment provided by RESULT, the group was able to harvest and sell 4.8 tonnes of tilapia.in six months.

“We didn’t know anything about aquaculture when RESULT came to introduce it to us.  We were very nervous about doing it since most of us were not used to water but with RESULT technical support and backstopping, we learned how to control the boat (both men and women), to feed and care for the fish and could soon see how quickly the fish were growing, it’s like moving from zero to hero” said Til-Bo-onbon, Chairperson, Songtana Aquaculture Group.

The regional award recognizes the group’s knowledge of fisheries, environmental protection, record keeping and safety as well as their contribution to the growth of their community and their ability to avoid and manage conflicts. 

“Everyone in the Songtana Aquaculture Group worked well together; members of the group took turns watching over the cages during the day and night; the group members who were responsible for daily feeding were there on time; and the group adopted the best management practices of cage farming very well, such as net washing to ensure good water exchange.  I am therefore not surprised at their sterling performance.  But I urge them not to be content with this output but to see it as a challenge since other resource-poor farmers in other communities  benefiting from the intervention will look up to them to achieve excellence in fish farming,” said Peter Kwame Akpaglo, RESULT Aquaculture Specialist. 

RESULT promotes cage aquaculture to improve food security and diversify incomes of smallholder farmers. The fish harvested by the Songtana Aquaculture Group ranged from 150 grams to 650 grams, with most weighing 200 grams or more.  Most fish were sold to bulk buyers (fish mongers and fish processors) with the rest sold to smaller buyers (restaurants, hotels, households) as well as to community members at a discounted price.  The beneficiaries were also given fish for use in their homes to improve the nutrition of the household diet.

RESULT also aims to promote the use of existing infrastructure and resources such as dam sites within rural communities for economic development. 

“There has been a lot of investment in dams and dugouts in northern Ghana to address critical water shortages that have a major impact on agricultural production. This infrastructure can also be used for other purposes such as aquaculture. The more communities benefit economically from this infrastructure, the more likely they are to maintain it,” said Malex Alebikiya, Executive Director, ACDEP.

The Songtana Aquaculture Group’s experience with initial fish production has demonstrated the potential for aquaculture in northern Ghana.

‘’The RESULT Project must be commended for this intervention.  The remarkable result from Pusu-Namongo has shown that aquaculture production is possible in the north and most community dams can be put to such use and this can help curb the rural-urban drift of most of the youth to cities in search of menial or non-existing jobs if production is sustained’’ said Mr. John Anafu, Fisheries Officer in charge of Talensi District of the Upper East Region.

Two other RESULT aquaculture groups were recognized for their achievement during the recent National Farmers’ Day celebrations at the district level – Datoko Fish Farmers Association in Datoko, Talensi District and Naburnye Aquaculture Group in Naburnye, Lawra District in the Upper West Region.

RESULT is a six-year, CDN$19-million project to increase the food security and resilience of 21,000 smallholder farmers and their households in northern Ghana. It targets poorer, more food insecure households with integrated interventions in the key areas of crop, animal and aquaculture production and alternative income-generating activities. RESULT is implemented byCanadian Feed The Children (CFTC) and the Association of Church-based Development NGOs (ACDEP)with funding from Global Affairs Canada. The support provided for aquaculture includes the construction of five cages and a canoe in each community, initial stocking with fingerlings and the provision of feed, and training and technical support in group formation, feeding, net mending, business planning, harvesting and marketing.

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