Reducing fish spoilage in West Africa
March 24, 2009
Fishing plays a significant role in the West African Bottom of the Pyramid food sector, affecting both local producers and consumers. Considerable value can be created for this population by improving the packaging and storage of dried fish products.
In Western Africa, the BoP segment is heavily involved in the fishing industry, working either on industrial fleets that catch high-end fish for European exportation, or more commonly as small-scale fishermen that catch low-value pelagic species for regional consumption. In coastal countries such as Ghana, fish are a vital natural resource and account for 80% of the animal protein found in peoples’ diets. In inland countries like Mali, fish remains an important source of nutrients and comes from either fresh-water fishing or intra-African trade.
The lack of cold storage facilities in Western Africa combined with the poor network of roads serving the rural areas hamper fresh fish consumption. Instead, fish is most often cured by dry-smoking, a process undertaken by women in the community. If stored properly, dried smoked fish has a shelf-life of 6-9 months.
Currently, dried fish is stored in either jute or propylene bags and transported in hand-woven baskets. These materials control neither the ambient temperature nor humidity, and render the fish susceptible to moisture and foreign organisms. Infestation of insects and microbial agents are the most common causes of fish spoilage, and in Nigeria alone some 40% of the annual fish catch is lost due to poor packaging and storage. Local fishermen spray dried fish products with unregulated insecticides throughout Western Africa, a behavior that reduces the fish’s value by hindering exportation and posing a health threat to local communities.
Regional malnutrition underscores the need to maximize yields from the West African fisheries. Improving the current methods of packaging and storage will augment fish yields, increasing the fishermen’s profits as well as stabilizing supply to the consumer. Greater fish yields will also enable subsistent fishermen to sell their surplus and become engaged in the formal economy.
Sources:
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations:
- ‘Proceedings of the symposium on post-harvest fish technology’
- ‘A study of the trade in smoke-dried fish from West Africa to the United Kingdom’
- ‘Fermented fish in Africa: A study on processing, marketing and consumption’
African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development
