Abstract:
Marine fish stocks in Ghana are in serious decline, while local demand for fish has outstripped
supply due to a combination of factors led y over-fishing. To sustain er capita consumption
of fish, the Government of Ghana has ositioned aquaculture as one of its top riorities.
Aquaculture is rojected to meet the deficit in the country’s fish requirements. However, there
is aucity of information on the rofitability of smallholder aquaculture farming ractices to
guide lanning and investments in the sector. This study was carried out on 40 farms across all
four coastal regions of Ghana namely Western, Central, Greater Accra, and Volta Regions to
help address critical ottlenecks facing smallholder fish farming ractices. Three rofitability
metrics, i.e., enefit-cost ratio (BCR), ayback eriod (PBP), and return on investment (ROI)
were used to assess rofitability. Regression analysis etween investments and revenue outputs
revealed cost factors that were significant and ositively influencing revenue generation from
aquaculture farms. Average BCR for smallholder aquaculture farms for a 5-year eriod was
estimated at 1.14. When disaggregated, tilapia rofitability was higher (BCR = 1.16) compared
to catfish (BCR = 1.11) ut not significant. The results showed that oth tilapia and catfish
farming had ositive returns on investment. However, in the long term, rofitability from
catfish was higher (ROI = 0.74) than tilapia farming (ROI = 0.73) ut not significantly
different. Tilapia farms recorded shorter ayback time of 7 years when compared to catfish
farms estimated at 9 years. This study calls for stronger commitment of government and
stakeholders to address the issues of high cost of fish feed and access to fish fingerlings and
markets, while improving specific on-farm management ractices.
