The Vice-Chancellor for the Millar Institute for Transdisciplinary and Development Studies Professor David Millar has touted the prospects of fish farming in the Upper East Region. Speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East, Professor Millar explained that as someone who has engaged in fish farming, he understands fully the huge financial upsides within the sector but also the disadvantages which include poisoning of fish and theft by workers.
Professor Millar said during his short stint in rearing fish to satisfy his “occupational curiosity,” fish in the ponds were poisoned by residents in communities surrounding the fish pond. Other times, the individuals he had engaged to cater for the fish stole from him. He said these circumstances affected the viability of the project. He said other commercial fish farmers in the region also reported of same issues with regard to their farms.
To engage in aquaculture in an organic and sustainable way, Professor Millar proposed fish farming alongside gardening and animal farming. He said in his case, he had a garden and also raised pigs in addition. He said the leftovers from the garden could go into feeding into the pigs while the waste products from the pigs feed the fish.
Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor for the Millar Institute for Transdisciplinary and Development Studies Professor David Millar has called on government to consider subsidizing organic fertilizers for small and medium-scale farmers. He said rather than the usual subsidies on inorganic fertilizers which affect the composition of the soil, in the long run, government should consider incentivizing farmers to forgo inorganic fertilizers for organic ones.
Professor Millar said as an agriculturist, he finds it unfortunate that successive governments continue to dawdle in the politics of ‘which government has brought in the most inorganic fertilizers”. He said even more worrying is the fact that farmer associations in the country, who should know better, also dabble in the politics of fertilizers.
A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz| Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith | Ghana
