Ghana tilapia producers Tropo Farms and Volta Catch have reason to celebrate, as they take home an impressive haul of awards from the 2023 Aquaculture Ghana Exhibition.
The sister companies, which farm tilapia at Lake Volta in Ghana, won a clutch of 4 awards, with Tropo Farms selected as Ghana's Aquaculture Farm of the Year 2022.
Volta Catch won "Aquaculture Marketer of the Year 2022", while the company also achieved the Corporate Social Responsibility Award for its work supporting the local community.
Tropo Farms and Volta Catch founder Mark Amechi was particularly honoured this year, receiving Ghana's Lifetime Aquaculture Achievers Award in recognition for his pioneering work on aquaculture in the country.
"2022 was tough for the economy in Ghana. This had a very significant negative effect on many businesses in the country, including Tropo Farms," Tropo Farms CEO Francisco Murillo told WeAreAquaculture.
"Despite this challenge, we were able to increase our production volume by 60%, compared with the previous year. This makes receiving the Farm of the Year Award very satisfying for me and everyone in the Tropo Farms team."
Another source of satisfaction is taking home the Corporate Social Responsibility Award, recognising Tropo Farms' initiatives in supporting its employees, their families, and the wider community.
"We strongly support the nutritional need of our team members. We provide free tilapia in all our canteens, so that all our employees can eat high quality protein as part of their daily diet," Murillo told WeAreAquaculture.
"In addition to this, we provide each employee with a monthly allowance of fish they can take home and enjoy with their families. Finally, tilapia is the preferred fish to eat during all festivities in Ghana, so we have an extra allowance of fish during the Christmas festivities, so all of our employees can enjoy it during this time of the year."
Tropo Farms also works on projects to improve access to clean water for the local community, as well as education programs through support of local schools, Murillo explains.
"Lack of clean drinking water in some areas of the country is an important problem that affects public health. We have drilled a well and provided water storage tanks in one of the main communities around our project. We intend to expand this initiative in the future to help alleviate this significant problem."
"Support to education programs is the other area where we are currently focusing. We provide free fish and financial support to schools around our project. We also intend to expand the area of influence of this program in the future," Murillo added.
Tropo Farms Ltd. is one of the largest tilapia producers in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the largest within Ghana. It produces high quality affordable tilapia to feed its customers in Ghana. Founded in 1997, Tropo Farms is headquartered in Dzorwulu, Accra, Ghana, with its aquaculture operations based at Lake Volta, the world's largest artificial lake.
