By the Hon. Emelia Arthur, Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Ghana
Africa’s blue foods – fish, shellfish, algae, and other aquatic foods – represent one of the greatest investment opportunities of our time. The sector is valued at $24 billion yet produces only 6% of global blue food output, underscoring a vast, untapped opportunity. Doubling production responsibly could close Africa’s protein gap by as much as 25%, create 3.3 million jobs, and add $17 billion to GDP by 2050.
As the country with the highest per-capita fish consumption in Africa, Ghana has long recognized the power of blue foods to nourish people, strengthen livelihoods, and build climate resilience. Our sector is valued at roughly $600 million, growing six times faster than the national economy, with aquaculture production reaching 120,000 tons by 2023 -comparable in scale to our entire livestock industry.
We have already laid the policy groundwork: the Fisheries and Aquaculture Act 2025 has established a unified legal framework; our National Aquaculture Development Plan targets a doubling of aquaculture output between 2024 and 2028 and the creation of over 100,000 jobs; Ghana’s first Marine Protected Area has been approved at Greater Cape Three Points; and new cold-chain infrastructure is under construction across the country. But policy alone cannot close the gap between potential and performance. That requires innovation, technology, and private capital, and a platform to bring them together.
Blue Food Innovation Hub
From 25 February 2026, Ghana will host the world’s first Blue Food Innovation Hub, the first within the World Economic Forum’s global Food Innovation Hub network dedicated specifically to blue food.
Serving as a neutral, multi-stakeholder platform to foster innovation, strengthen governance, and bring in private capital through coordinated, de-risked investment pathways, the Hub’s greatest strength lies in its inclusive design. Built through co-creation with smallholder fish farmers, women processors, scientists, entrepreneurs, and policymakers, it is shaped from within Ghana’s blue food ecosystem. That means it can identify needs across value chains and address specific constraints that have held the sector back including enabling women, who play a significant role in Ghana’s blue food economy, to access the formal finance, training, and markets they need through skills development, market access support, and investment in processing technology.
As Tania Strauss, Head of Sustainable Growth and People Agenda at the World Economic Forum noted: “Ghana’s new Blue Foods Innovation Hub exemplifies the power of multi-stakeholder collaboration to drive meaningful change. By bringing together government, private sector, academia, and civil society, the World Economic Forum is proud to support Ghana’s leadership and to help catalyze innovation that benefits communities, economies, and ecosystems.”
Closing the investment gap
Experience from other regions shows that private sector participation is essential to unlock large-scale, competitive growth. India’s public de-risking of aquaculture investment enabled rapid private-sector scale-up in shrimp, and Vietnam doubled production to 5.4 million tons over 13 years while meeting international sustainability standards. Yet of the $1.9 billion invested in Africa’s blue food sector over the past decade, just 17% came from private capital – leaving a $12 billion annual investment gap.
Five priority investment opportunities have been identified across Ghana’s value chain, with internal rates of return of 15-55%, supported by 10% production compound annual growth rate over the past five years. Acting now allows investors to capture these returns and shape the sector’s long-term trajectory, supported by the African Union’s Blue Economy Strategy and the FAO’s Blue Transformation Agenda; continental tailwinds that are creating the conditions for large-scale change.
Addressing systemic barriers
Despite its potential, the blue foods sector faces systemic inefficiencies that constrain productivity and deter investors. For example, feed accounts for 70-80% of aquaculture production costs in Ghana, roughly triple the price paid in Egypt due to import dependency. Around a third of output is lost to inadequate cold chain and processing infrastructure, and disease outbreaks in some regions have caused 60-90% fish mortality.
Proven solutions exist. Alternative feed ingredients such as black soldier fly larvae can reduce feed costs by up to 60%. Improved hatchery networks, water quality monitoring platforms, upgraded processing units, and cold-chain aggregation hubs all represent business models with measurable financial and development returns, and high-impact opportunities awaiting the right enabling environment to scale.
The Hub is designed to provide exactly that: connecting innovators with resources, bridging traditional practices with modern science, and operating as a co-investment platform that helps investors capture emerging opportunities while shaping the sector’s future.
Ghana’s leadership, Africa’s opportunity
The investment case extends beyond financial returns. Blue foods provide nearly 20% of the animal protein consumed by more than three billion people globally, and around 10-12% of the world’s population earns income from fishing and aquaculture. The sector’s comparatively low carbon footprint makes responsible expansion a compelling pathway to meeting growing food demand sustainably – for investors, governments, and communities alike.
Ghana’s policy framework, growing private sector, and rich aquatic resources position us to demonstrate what is possible when stakeholders align around a shared vision. The Blue Food Innovation Hub is the first of its kind, designed as a model that others across West Africa and the continent can adopt and adapt.
The opportunity is substantial, the groundwork is laid, and the platform is ready. As Ghana strives to rebuild its fish stocks, enhance governance, and tap into the potential of the blue economy, we welcome the investors, innovators, and partners who want to help shape what comes next.
Ghana’s Blue Food Innovation Hub launches on 25 February 2026. For more information, visit the World Economic Forum’s publication Investing in Blue Foods: Innovation and Partnerships for Impact.
