Cage culture of tilapia in Ghana

Photos’ credit: Francis Xedagbui (Ghana) Review: Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)

The inserted photos show the harvest of caged tilapia and show also a group of women while processing (gutting) the harvested fish in a nearby boat. In fact, the owner of the cages (Francis), participated in a 3-month training course held in Egypt in 2015 and sponsored by the Egyptian International Centre of Agriculture (EICA) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Based on published records, cage farming in Ghana goes back to 2001 with only one cage farm. Afterwards, cage aquaculture in Lake Volta has become the fastest business activity with about an annual growth rate of 73 percent between 2010 and 2016.

The Water Research Institute (WRI) in Akosombo, Ghana, is promoting cage aquaculture technology to smallholder farmers.

A typical cage size in Lake Volta is about 6 x 4m with a 2-m depth. The cage netting is attached to pipe frames buoyed by oil drums or plastic barrels. The cage surface is usually covered by bird nettings to protect caged fish against bird predation. Tilapia fingerlings of about 10-30g size are stocked at rates ranging from 3000 to 9000 fish per 48-m3 cage. Cage farms acquire the fingerlings either from private tilapia hatcheries or from a selected line of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) produced at the Ghanaian Aquaculture Research and Development Centre in Akosombo.

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