16 Berchie Asiedu, Amos Asase, Seidu Iddrisu et al.
sustainable use of land and water resources in aquaculture-production
(MoFAD, 2012).
The Government of Ghana is also committed to creating an enabling
environment for the existing number of local and potential investors. For
instance, new aquaculture enterprises are allowed a five-year tax free period.
The government has also set up a special fast track court system in order to
provide a quicker response to solving disputes and enforcing contracts which
is a key factor in providing a healthy and efficient business environment.
Studies conducted by Henriksen (2009) summarized that general conditions in
Ghana are favourable and that investors find Ghana to be a sound location for
business development.
Rapidly Growing Demand for Quality Fish
With the Ghanaian’s social and economic conditions improving, the
lifestyle of people is changing and preference is given to eating healthier food.
Internal demand for farmed tilapia is high mainly due to the growing middle
class with preference taste for tilapia and high malnutrition in the country
(Asiedu et al., 2015). Fresh or alive fish being accepted by the average
Ghanaian to be healthier than red meat and frozen or processed fish is
considered as a real delicacy food. With Ghana’s per capita fish consumption
currently at 28kg (MoFAD 2015), it can be expected that, farmed fish demand
and domestic market will increase as the national population and level of
income of most Ghanaians also rise.
Rapidly Growing Excess Demand for Quality but Affordable Feed
According to Rurangwa et al. (2015), the average costs for tilapia farming
in Ghana consists of 70% of feed cost. Currently, there is only one local aqua
feed mill (Raanan Fish Feed West Africa Ltd.) producing feed at its maximum
capacity, which implies that huge tonnes of feed are imported. Therefore, a
great opportunity in the fish farm business in Ghana is the local manufacture
of reliable volumes of quality feeds at a more stable price to replace the
importation of foreign based protruded feeds, which is approximately 30%
more expensive than locally produced feeds (Rurangwa et al., 2015). There is
an avenue to introduce nationally owned feed mill, which would help reduce
the production costs of intensive fish culture.
In-spite of the opportunities that the nation presents for the development
of aquaculture, the business is a rather labour intensive and if labour costs get
too high, the farmed fish will lose price advantage on the market. Also, as the