Ghana Protein in difficult times

Ghana Protein Limited is a Tema-based Fish meal producer that rode on the wings of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) to help add value to waste churned out daily by the several canneries located in the industrial city. Ama Amankwah Baafi visited the facility and reports


Ghana Protein Limited (GPL) produces fish meal in commercial quantities using fully mechanical system. Within 30 minutes, fish waste goes through a milling system and it is quickly bagged ready to feed animals.

Ghana Protein is sandwiched by most of the canneries in Tema so it can feed on the waste from these canneries, which serves as its raw material. It took one of the investment drives by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) to attract GPL to the country.

During a GRAPHIC BUSINESS visit to the company’s premises, the Head of Administration and Accounts, Mr Anthony Adu-Nketia, recounted officials of the GIPC during a visit to Cote d’Ivoire witnessed a model company of GPL processing fish waste and found it very impressive as it was of quality and of international standard.

Hence, a request was made for the company to replicate the feat in Ghana. That, he said, culminated into the procurement of a 25-acre land from Tema Development Corporation on which they subsequently built a 350-tonne fish meal plant.

“So technically speaking with this capacity of fish meal plant, Ghana can be self sufficient in fish meal production and possibly export to other countries to earn foreign investment,” he stated.

GPL registered as a body corporate under the laws of Ghana in the year 2000, but it was not until September 2007 that it completed all installation works on the site. Test production therefore commenced the same month, while commercial production began in January 2008.

GPL employs the most scientific and hygienic means of production including boiling to kill pathogens, as well as the separation of water from the oil that paves the way for the oil to be used for other things such as omega 3 oils.

Then after pressing, the preparation is dried in an oven and then goes through a milling machine after which it is bagged.

“So within 30 minutes, the raw fish you see with blood is bagged for use,” Mr Adu-Nketia explained.

A 50 kg GPL fish meal contains 60 per cent protein, seven per cent moisture, 18 per cent ash, 10 per cent fat, seven per cent calcium and one per cent salt. They are salmonella and aflatoxin free.

GPL attributed its success to poultry farmers in the country, who he said, accounted for about 95 per cent of their clients. They come from Dormaa Ahenkro in the Brong Ahafo Region, who before GPL came in bought fish meal from Cote d’Ivoire.

In collaboration with Ranaan Fish Feed, a renowned feed producer in Israel, GPL has set up of a fish pellet plant. Hitherto, Ranaan was producing and exporting to Ghana.

“As we speak, they are buying from us after they visited our plant in 2009. And you know the standards in Israel are just as that of US and Europe,” he explained.

GPL believes it has a great future in the country, as its turnover has since inception been rising steadily and now sits in the region of GH₵4.7 million annually.

In spite of these achievements, management of GPL knows they are producing far below capacity as Mr Adu-Nketia intimated “even in the event of producing 10 per cent of our capacity, we have employed 50 people.”

Yet, Mr. Adu-Nketia said accessing raw material averaging about 360 tonnes of fish waste at capacity to process had been challenging, particularly with so called permit granted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to individuals to dry fish waste on bear ground.

“We thought that producing unwholesome fish meal as a country was not good so we brought in this five million dollar investment to solve that. But why should we accept fish meal dried on the bear ground as our basic standard,’’ he questioned.

According to him, people engaged in ‘local’ production collect the fish waste, put it in the sun during which birds feed on it, decompose and turn into maggots and wait on for decomposition to take place and as the sun warm up it gets dry up. They then take it to a milling point and afterwards sell.

“So they are only processing fish waste that is decaying. Virtually all the pathogens that came with it are still in there. Mind you it is only when you process fresh that you can get the right protein and fish meal is determined by how rich it is in protein and how it is not contaminated with E. coli or salmonella,” he stated.

He described as unfortunate the situation where some callous local feed producers go further to add sand and some saw dust to the feed before they sell to the unsuspecting farmers.

“Eventually when you process fish waste under such circumstances, before the decaying set in there are high histamine levels and it means you have a bad fish meal that when the birds eat it will affect them. They will have stunt growth, they will not lay eggs and even those who will, will lay very small eggs and eventually you have E.coli and salmonella infection in those eggs which is bad for human consumption,” he added.

GPL said though GIPC that promoted the business did it best to ensure they get other sources of supply it was not successful.



The Chief Executive Officer of GPL, Mr Fabrice Pizano, reiterated that the challenges facing GPL were enormous and frustrating, saying, “Even though we feel very much disappointed, I must say we are not discouraged since we still have confidence in the leadership of the country to assist in finding a lasting solution to our problems”.

He appealed to the sector ministries and state regulatory institutions to collaborate with the GIPC to ensure that no investor will ever feel disappointed in investing in Ghana.

“The current situation leaves much to be desire about the existing Ghanaian regulatory institutions and promotion of investment. The president is the first investment promoter and so we are calling on him to intervene and not let entrepreneurs start crying,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, GPL risks collapsing as the its sole supplier of raw materials, Pioneer Food Cannery (PFC), has served notice of its intension to set up its own fish meal plant.

Consequently, PFC will no longer supply GPL fish waste by October 31.

“It means our investment will go off within a period of four years. Then it becomes a very bad investment spectacle for us as a country especially when the raw material is regulated and cannot be imported,” stated Mr. Adu-Nketia.