The Unique Shepherd (US) Group of Companies, an indigenous entity, says it is finalising a partnership deal with an international aquaculture company to help improve its tilapia farming project.
The international partner is expected to inject fresh capital and bring on board rich technical expertise in fish farming to bolster the company�s operations.
The Executive Chairman of the Group, Chief Godfred Medicine, told a section of the media in Accra yesterday that the partnership would boost the US Group�s operations and bring to an end as well as reverse the unfortunate losses that the company suffered in its earlier Tilapia project.
�The company did not achieve the desired results in our first project due to some technical challenges and natural disasters such as flooding which the company did not have reasonable control over. We could not even break-even but there is hope with the new partnership deal we will sign soon,� he said.
The partnership will also bring on board rich knowledge and skills in aquaculture, which is expected to help the US Group to diversify into the production of other fishes, including shrimps.
Mr Medicine said with the injection of more funds into US company�s operations, the company would be able to scale up its production level to meet Ghana�s growing demand for fish and also export the excess to the West African sub-region.
Currently, Ghana is a net importer of fish, bringing in 50 per cent of her fish needs annually due to declining stock of fish in the country�s waters.
�As a country, we can collectively reduce the fish import if we adopt the right technologies to increase production,� he said.
On the issue of payment to early investors in the Tilapia business, he gave the assurance that measures were being put in place to ensure that they were paid.
�It is rather unfortunate that our project failed to yield the results that we expected but I want to assure the investors that their investment would not go down the drain,� he assured.
He said the company would soon come out with a timetable indicating the payment schedule, stressing: �I want to use the opportunity to tell the investors that I am in Ghana and will not run away.�
Mr Medicine declined comment on pending court cases against his company, saying: �The case is in court and I will not comment on it. All that I can do is to assure investors that their monies will be paid.�
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