Tropo Farms, has commenced supplying fresh tilapia from the Lake Volta to the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) for distribution to mitigate the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on residents of Accra.
The first consignment of 20,000kg of fresh tilapia requested by NAFCO was delivered on schedule last week, despite Tropo having to change its packaging overnight to supply 20,000 individually packed bags to residents of Achimota and Kasoa.
Glisson Wilson, CEO of Tropo, said “while our route-to-market guarantees the delivery of fresh fish nationwide in 25kg bulk crates, the challenge with the request from NAFCO was to redesign our packaging at very short notice to supply 20,000 packed bags of three pieces of tilapia, on average 1kg per bag, for distribution to residents.”
According to the CEO, Tropo’s dedicated staff at the farm worked until 2:30am to complete the packing of the freshly harvested fish in order to ensure that the product would be at the main distribution points by 7.00am last Friday, from where staff of Tropo assisted NAFCO with smaller deliveries to 62 different locations around Kasoa and Achimota.
“Fortunately we recently had to purchase two small 1.5 ton refrigerated vehicles to support our customers during the Covid-19 lockdown which enabled our staff on the ground to quickly organize the smaller deliveries for the distribution of the 20,000 bags of fish to the residents,” Mr. Glisson Wilson stated.
The CEO maintained that “with its integrated hatcheries, nursery and marine cage capacity, Tropo Farms could in the space of nine months and with an appropriate capital injection, begin to increase production capacity from 10,000 tons per annum to 50,000 tons per annum. Tropo currently employs 756 employees and an increase in production would create additional employment opportunities for Ghanaians.” He further added that “Tropo Farms stands ready at all times to contribute to national wellbeing when called upon.”
Hanan Abdul-Wahab, CEO of NAFCO, said “supporting local food producers is an essential part of ensuring Ghana’s food security; and aquaculture plays a crucial role in supplying our nation with wholesome and affordable protein.”
He said Lake Volta “creates ample scope for significant expansion of aquaculture,” and hoped that Tropo and other producers would rise to the challenge.
Ghana annually imports over 350,000 metric tons of frozen fish to meet the demand as a result of the decline in Ghana’s ‘wild catch’ due to widespread poor fishing practices and environmental degradation. Experts believe that a significant quantity of the fish imported into Ghana is of questionable quality.