With an abundance of fertile lands and no outstanding rivers, the Ho municipality is better known for crop cultivation with bountiful harvests at the end of the farming season.

For years, fishing has not been among the primary economic activities in the area.

In recent times, however, fish farming has been trending in the municipality with great zeal and enthusiasm, with ready markets for the fish.

This is because more entrepreneurs are turning to the construction of fishponds on available lands for serious business. 

There are now about 20 of such ponds in the municipality

One such enterprise is the Biss Farm at Sokode-Lokoe, near Ho, which began on a humble note in 2023 with five ponds. Growing from strength to strength over time, it now has 10 ponds.

Catfish

The popular fish farm produces catfish, a diverse group of ray-finned fish, named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat’s whiskers.

Some catfish in a pond at the Biss Farm, Sokode-Lokoe

Each pond on the farm is often stocked with 1,000 fingerlings and gets restocked with the same number from time to time.

The farm’s customers include market women, members of the public in Ho, Accra, other parts of the country and Lome in Togo.

During a visit to the farm last Thursday, the owner of the estate, Billy Sunnu, said the demand for catfish from the farm kept soaring by the day.

To meet the demand of the customers, he said, the farm had now acquired a vast land at nearby Adaklu-Vodze to put up 150 more fish ponds.

Mr Sunnu said the customers were mostly hotels, schools, restaurants, organisers of funerals, weddings and other big events.

Fish food

To ensure constant supplies, the farm produces fish food on a small scale to supplement the feed it purchases from Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region, and processes some of the fish on the farm for ready consumption.

“Already, we have a corn mill, and we will soon start producing feed for the fish on a much larger scale,” Mr Sunnu said.

He said there were bright prospects for fish farming in the municipality because the market for fish was very wide.

Challenges

Touching on challenges, Mr Sunnu said the fish feed came at high cost.

Billy Sunnu (3rd from left), owner of Biss Farm at Sokode-Lokoe with staff

“Apart from that, you must sell the fish in good time, otherwise you keep feeding them, incurring more cost,” he added.

That, notwithstanding, Mr Sunnu said the farm would vigorously pursue its plan to expand as widely as possible.

He said the Biss Farm was also looking at markets in Togo, Benin and eastern Nigeria in the short and medium term.

As part of its social responsibility, Biss Farm is training students from the Sokode Senior High Technical School in fish farming, for free, Mr Sunnu told this reporter.

He said the Biss Farm was doing well with only five workers, adding that the workforce was set to increase with the soaring demand for fish from the farm.

Mr Sunnu said any support for the farm in the form of soft loans and grants from the government, corporate bodies, investors and public-spirited individuals would definitely be a worthy cause in the interest of humanity.

A fishmonger, Davi Aku, who spoke to the Daily Graphic, said it was relieving now buying fish without having to travel to Accra or other parts of the country.        

"I also get the fish in good time," she said.