Foreign nationals suspected to be from China, Bangladesh and India are allegedly using steroids in the breeding strain of tilapia in Ghana.

This suspicion gained grounds after some realised that the type tilapia bred by the said foreigners mature in a relatively short period compared to the species known by Ghanaian farmers.

The Ministry of Fisheries and the Water Research Institute are investigating claims that some foreigners are breeding a strain of tilapia in the country with steroids.

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An average tilapia on the Ghanaian market takes about six months to mature, but the newly introduced one takes half the time, and its growth rate has been attributed to steroids.

Reacting to the development the Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Elizabeth Naa Afoley Quaye, told Accra-based Class FM that they have taken samples to relevant agencies for investigations.

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“We took samples of their fish from the farm where it was suspected that the fish grew faster …and want to find out the genetic makeup of the fish and also to find out other reasons why their fish could be growing faster than the others. It could be the feed that is given to them, other factors like some medication, chemicals mixed for the fish or something."

"So we took samples of the fish and took them to the Water Research Institute and at the moment, the institute is trying to do some findings and some research to ascertain the genetic makeup of the fish they are growing,” she added.