This course examines the various aquaculture systems, management practices and production levels. It also gives an overview of the status of aquaculture globally as well as in Ghana and other African countries. Harvesting, processing and marketing strategies of aquaculture products will be studied. Students will be taught how to prepare business plans and financial budgets for fish production, and record keeping. Various sources of funding and strategies for investment will be discussed.
Reproductive strategies of selected warm water finfish and shellfish will be examined and linked to the mass production of their seed for culture purposes. Students will study the techniques of hybridization and selective breeding, as well as monosex fish production. Hands-on activities will include spawning induction, artificial fertilization, and rearing. Stocking of ponds, cages and pens will be undertaken as well as evaluation of substrates for settlement of oyster spat. The control of species introductions and escape of farmed animals will be discussed.
The course presents a study of clinical diagnosis of bacterial, viral, fungal and other parasitic diseases of cultured species. The practical work will involve the isolation, culture and identification of the disease-causing organisms. Students will also study fouling agents and their effect on shellfish production. Formulation of corrective measures for the control of fish diseases and fouling agents will be examined.
This course involves an analysis of basic and applied aspects of warm water fish nutrition. Areas covered include nutrient requirement and metabolism, nutrient sources, nutrient chemistry, diet formulation and ration. Practical work will consist of preparation, administering and evaluation of feed including live feed. Students will be introduced to the use of statistical packages for evaluating quality of fish feeds.
A study of the biology of the commonly cultured finfish and shellfish species in tropical Africa is provided. The course begins with an introductory discussion of the attributes of cultivable species, followed by in-depth study of the morphology, anatomy, respiration, food and feeding habits, growth characteristics, and reproductive habits of selected species. Local examples of species with potential for culturing will also be considered. Emphasis will be placed on the relationship between the biological attributes and culture methods.
The course offers in-depth study of the neoconservative and conservative aspects of water in enclosures and other facilities for aquaculture. Students will also study the chemical, biological, and mechanical methods of maintaining and improving water quality in aquaculture. The possible causes and prevention of pollution of aquaculture systems as well as by the systems will be discussed.
This course examines the principles and practices in the selection of sites for aquaculture, surveying and mapping of pond sites, and techniques of pond construction. The use of ponds, cages, pens, tanks, raceways and other facilities for fish production as well as aquarium fisheries are discussed. Students will have a practical experience of constructing and mounting holding facilities for both finfish and shellfish. The process of land acquisition in Ghana, and tenure are also discussed.
| Date | Sessions | Programme | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9th September, 2019 | 1st Session | College of Health and Allied Sciences | 10:00am |
| 26th September, 2019 | 2nd Session | College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences | 9am - 11am |
| 26th September, 2019 | 3rd Session | College of Humanities and Legal Studies | 1pm - 3pm |
| 27th September, 2019 | 4th Session | College of Education Studies | 9am - 11am |
| 27th September, 2019 | 5th Session | School of Graduate Studies | 1pm - 3pm |
Venue: New Examination Centre (N.E.C) New Site
Mary Mcbride, Director, Applied Segment Markets, Sponsored A Request For The Agilent Foundation To Fund This Initiative. A Grant Was Awarded.
Half of the world’s population depends upon rice as their premium staple food. In recent history, rice consumption has travelled far beyond Asian countries to become the fastestgrowing food staple in Africa – and unscrupulous people are taking advantage of this massive business opportunity.
The most common kind of “rice fraud” is substituting low quality rice for premium rice. But more recently, dangerous types of fraud have been detected. For example, old, moldy rice can be bleached and sprayed with chemicals so that it looks and smells like premium rice. Another more sinister fraud is mixing premium rice with plastic that has been milled to look like rice.
These rice problems first surfaced in China. But around 2015, the offenders shifted their attention to Africa, where rice is the most popular and also the fastest growing food staple.
West African ports serve as the major gateway for food coming into the rest of Africa, so an enormous amount of imported rice passes through their markets. Suddenly, families and entire communities in West Africa were becoming dangerously sick after eating rice.
Under the leadership of international food fraud expert Professor Chris Elliott, Director of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queens University, Belfast, the global Fingerprinting Rice team was established to tackle some of these issues.
Their first goal was to create a system to monitor and manage fraudulent rice. They hoped to find a way to “fingerprint” premium quality rice so it could be easily identified in the marketplace as safe. Ideally, consumers could watch the rice being tested and know they were buying clean food.
“But back in 2015 and 2017, It took a long time to determine the difference between an authentic rice and an adulterated rice,” said Dr. Ernest Teye, professor in the Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. “We needed to find a way to quickly identify good rice.”
The Agilent Foundation provided a grant to support this critical research.
“We needed to find a way to quickly identify good rice.”
The team agreed that a rapid screening approach that would work in the field was critical, and that hand-held molecular spectroscopy was a good option. At the same time, they worked on developing an extensive library of molecular fingerprints using thousands of rice samples from China, India, Ghana and Vietnam. The rice fingerprints could be stored in the digital cloud, ready to access during rice testing.
It was a practical plan.
In moments, samples could be matched if the rice was good.
With technology identified and a testing system in place, the team has been sharing their learnings. The two-year initiative is nearing completion, and team members from China, Vietnam and Ghana have been scheduling and conducting international and in-country workshops for stakeholders, and staff and students at their Universities.
The team has also identified biomarkers of authentic rice and intends to drive the biomarkers into the development of new standard test methods at the ISO standards level.
And of course, they are all working to support continued rice testing in their marketplaces. “We are bringing food analysis into the kitchen, to inform people about the quality of rice,” said Teye. “We are now overcoming the problems of toxic rice. We have a simple, rapid robotic detection method and the necessary identifying biomarkers for good rice. Together, this will save a lot of lives. That’s a good solution for all.”
“We are now overcoming the problems of toxic rice. We have a simple, rapid robotic detection method and the necessary identifying biomarkers for good rice. Together, this will save a lot of lives. That’s a good solution for all.”
