Are small-scale freshwater aquaculture farms in coastal areas of Ghana economically profitable?

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.