Nearly 30 tons of tilapia were harvested at Lake Nangbetô since August 2021

Agriculture

Tuesday, 26 April 2022 18:49

Nearly 30 tons of tilapia were harvested at Lake Nangbetô since August 2021

(Togo First) - The Togo Aquaculture Development Project (PDAT) is beginning to show "satisfactory" results on Lake Nangbeto. The statement was made by Edem Kokou Tengue, Minister of Maritime Economy, Fisheries and Coastal Protection, after visiting the Lake last Friday.

Launched in 2020, the PDAT which aims to boost local tilapia production, provided Nangbétô’s fishermen with CFA380 million worth of equipment last August. The equipment included 60 floating cages of 400 m3, six (06) motorized dugouts, 63 tons of food, and 56,000 fingerlings.

30 t for the local market

The investment helped produce nearly 30 t of tilapia for the local market, within less than a year.

"In less than a year, the first results obtained are satisfactory," said Minister Kokou Tengue. Specifically, "to date, 28.737 tons of tilapia have been fished and will be put on the local market," he added.

A bigger investment on the way

Tengue added that the PDAT should pave the way for bigger investments aimed at developing aquaculture. "This project is a prelude to an investment of more than CFA45 billion in the aquaculture sector," the official noted.

At the same time, his department plans to link the project to Elavagnon’s Aquaculture Traning Institution, thus bolstering the know-how of future graduates, and creating new opportunities.

In Togo, local production contributes to only 30% of the national demand for tilapia. This means national fishing projects still have a long way to go in terms of growth.

In 2021, the West African country's fish demand was estimated at about 110,000 tons, while the sector employs nearly 22,000 people, and contributes only 4% to agricultural GDP and 1.3% to national GDP.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

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