The government will launch solar-powered outboard motors for fishers across the country in October this year, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has announced.
The motors would be piloted in Elmina in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem Constituency of the Central Region next month, during which fishers would be trained on how to operate them.
Speaking to the chiefs and people of Elmina during his tour of the Constituency, on Tuesday, September 24, Dr Bawumia, the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), explained that the new machines had been introduced to mitigate the challenges associated with premix fuel.
The exorbitant cost of premix fuel, shortage and smuggling among other challenges had been the bane of the artisanal fisheries sector for years, a situation the new motors seek to improve.
Dr Bawumia announced that the affordable solar-powered outboard motors would be sold to the fishers on hire purchase.
“You will no longer need premix anymore because God will give it to you every day with the sun,” he said.
“We will be giving you a treasury scheme and that will help everybody and reduce all the problems,” he added.