FISHERIES MINISTER TOURS PROCESSING FACTORIES (PAGE 14)

Story: Rose Hayford Darko, Tema


THE Minister of Fisheries, Mrs Gladys Asmah, has paid a day’s working visit to three fish processing companies in the Tema Municipality to ascertain their preparedness to commence the Private Partnership Projects (PPP) initiative for the fish industry.
The companies are the Divine Seafoods Ltd, Tema Fishing Harbour and the Ghana Proteins Products at the Tema Industrial Area.
She also visited the West African Fishery Products at Prampram.
At the Divine Foods Company, the minister was shown round by Ms Phidelia Attitso, Sales and Marketing Executive, who said the company packaged fish fillets for export.
At the Ghana Protein Company, it was gathered that it utilised the remains of fish fillets for fish meal production. The company produces about 300 tons of fish meal daily, which is described to be below capacity.
The Chief Executive Officer of the West African Fishery Products at Prampram, Mr Angel Lopez Soto, said the Spanish company produced filleted frozen fresh tuna and other species, including octopus, to the European Union market, United States and England.
He said the company, which is a free zone registered one, was doing well on the world market and would be able to increase production with additional external support.
Mr Soto said the company currently employed 110 local workers and hoped to expand in terms of machinery and equipment.
After the tour, the minister expressed satisfaction that the project had kicked off.
She explained that the project, which was initiated by the Government of Ghana in partnership with the Netherlands Government, was aimed at boosting the fish industry.
Mrs Asmah said the Netherlands grant, made up of one million euros, was in the form of providing training and equipment to assist capable companies in the industry.
She stated that the government was expected to facilitate the operations of the project but had not put in any monies directly.
Mrs Asmah said there were about 10 of such companies which added value to fresh fish for exports in the country and therefore appealed to them to take up the challenge to attract more grants for the government to enter into more export-oriented ventures to benefit the country.
Workers at the companies she visited were mostly women but the equipment base was not adequate. Some of the staff members Daily Graphic spoke to were of the view that conditions at the workplaces needed to be improved.