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| EU Fish for development Project (FIDEP) |
The fish for Development Project (FIDEP) is a forty (40) - month local economic development aimed at promoting sustainable economic growth and development through fish farming. This is district/municipal specific and in this case, Adentan municipality is the focus.
Adentan municipality was established over ten (10) years ago and lies in the north eastern part of Accra and connects to the Eastern and Oti regions of Ghana. Adentan is blessed with some natural water bodies which makes her a perfect choice for this project.
In an interview with Mr Kodwo Ennin Fynn, the Project Coordinator, he summarized the project’s objectives as follows: “The project seek to promote urban fish farming as a means of livelihood within the municipality, creating jobs for youths, women and persons with disabilities (PWDs) along the fish value chain and preserving and protecting the water bodies within the municipality.”
FIDEP is co-funded by the European Union (EU) who is providing 80% of the total cost of the project and the remaining 20% will be taken care of by the implementing partners. The implementers as communicated is led by the Adentan Municipal Assembly and being supported by the Centre for Local Governance Advocacy (CLGA) and the Local Governance Network (LoGNet) and ofcourse in partnership with local and national stakeholders. To enhance the capabilities of the beneficiaries, the project will provide the needed infrastructure and training along the entire value chain to promote the fish industry.
The following were outlined as the targets for the project:
l Employment for 1,200 youths, 600 women, 60 PWDs and 360 men along the fish value chain within the focused municipality.
l Construction of a demonstration centre, fish cages, fish hatchery and a cottage-based processing centre.
l Twenty-two (22) identified and mapped water bodies protected and preserved within the Adentan Municipality.
l Expected annual farmer income of GHS 12,000 by 2022.
In his concluding words, Mr Fynn declares the open for application and entreat all to take advantage of the project. He define the ‘all’ as youth groups, women groups particularly market women and persons with disabilities, existing fish farmers, cold stores and fish mongers, transporters/transport operators, buyers/exporters and many more.
The success of FIDEP will be assessed on five pillars;
i. Support to farmers
ii. Construction of cottage-based processing centre
iii. Planting of trees around the water bodies
iv. Skills training for farmers on production of fingerlings, emerging technologies, record keeping , pre & post harvest management and value addition techniques
v. Formulation and enforcement of by-law
