Hygienic Fish Processing

Problem-A large quantity of harvested fish is wasted through post-harvest losses and women fish traders lose a lot of money due to poor quality of fish they process by drying sardines  ( limnothrissa miodon) on the ground. 

Also, processing fish by smoking causes deforestation and degradation of the soil due to high demand for firewood, this is because they smoke fish using a method that uses way too much wood. 

Solution-It is for this reason that the Drying Rack Technology will improve the quality of fish(sardines) hence women earning more money.

 Again, Smoking kiln will reduce the amount of firewood used to smoke fish therefore reducing on the cutting of trees. 

Global scaling-These technologies if scaled globally will increase women income,reduce on the time,money and energy women spend fetching firewood and also reduce deforestation as little firewood is needed to smoke fish using the smoking kiln technology. 

Fisheries are an important part of food security, particularly for many poor people in developing countries. Small-scale fisheries employ over 90 percent of the world’s estimated 28 million fishermen and support another approximate 84 million people employed in jobs associated with fish processing, distribution and marketing. At least half of these are women. In many cases these fisheries are responsible for between 50 and 70 percent of a nation’s total catch, and nearly half of fishery exports derive from developing countries (FAO, 2008).  It has been estimated that 10 percent by weight of world fish catch is lost by poor handling, processing, storage and distribution. However, losses in small-scale fish processing are said to be particularly high and figures as high as 40 percent are sometimes reported (FAO, 1984; Mills, 1979; Moes, 1980). These problems are caused by high demand for fish. It is for this reason that training women trading in fish  in hygienic fish processing will help reduce post-harvest losses. Use of too much firewood when smoking fish causes deforestation therefore training women on how to use a smoking kiln will reduce deforestation as cutting of trees for smoking fish will reduce tremendously.

This solutions seeks to use a smoking kiln and a drying rack to address the problem of poor quality of processed sardines and deforestation as well  as increase women income.

 Smoking kiln is made of burnt bricks with an opening for inserting fire wood, the top is where fish is placed for smoking  on a wire gauze. The walls of the kiln reduces air intake and the top is covered by a iron sheet hence slow burning of wood and confinement of hot smoke makes it possible to smoke more kilograms of fish as compared to open smoking practiced by many fish processors in the area.

On the other hand, drying rack is made out of poles raised 1.2 meters above ground top covered with a seine net or any material that cant allow sardines to fall through.This makes  fish (locally called kapenta) to dry fast, clean and maitaines its shine colour hence fetching good prices on the market. Limnothrissa miodon (kapenta) is processed by sunlight hence using a raised platform to dry it makes it fast to dry and free of sand.

More than 95% of fish processors are women and girls hence they are the targets. These are Women and girls who do business of buying fish from fishers, process and resale to the public. With our experience, these women lose a lot of money due to poor quality of fish when badly processed. Women from different villages along lake Tanganyika will be invited for  intensive training in hygienic fish processing and health related topics will be included such as family planning ,HIV/AIDS, COVID 19 and gender based violence. Women will be taught on how to construct a drying rack and smoking kiln using locally available materials. Wome who will be trained are expected to go and train their fellow women in their respective villages in order to make sure the knowledge reaches the community.This solution will address their needs in the sense that their problem of losing money due to bad processing method will come to an end. Women travel long distance to fetch firewood to smoke fish. With the use of a smoking kiln, less firewood will be used hence reducing on fetching firewood, paying too much for firewood and most important  reducing deforestation.

Women who trade in fish depend on how best they have processed the fish to realize profit. If the fish is poorly processed, the woman will lose her capital and out of business. The need to train women in hygienic fish process as a solution to this challenge will help them realize enough income that will help them get out of poverty and live a decent life. The immediate solution to poor fish processing is training.

Again,use of a smoking kiln will save the women energy and money of fetching and buying firewood for smoking fish and reduce deforestation.

This solution is unique in the sense that Women and girls who will be trained will be provided with  teaching aid materials that they will use to train others in their respective villages. This will create a new dimension of performance. Monitoring and backstopping will be done frequently to asses how the women are managing and the challenges they are facing training others. This will spread the knowledge in all the villages in Nsama District that are along the shores of lake Tanganyika. 

 Business skills will also be part of the training which will help women realize the fact that processing fish is a business rather than a way to provide food for their house holds.

This solution is using two technologies, a Smoking kiln and Drying rack, these   technologies are new to the area.

Smoking kiln technology  works on the principle that states that less oxygen reduces burning rate.The kiln is constructed using burnt bricks, it measures 2m by 1m by1m. The top part is where a wire gauze is placed and fish put when processing. it has one small opening used for inserting firewood. When fish is placed on the wire gauze, it is covered by a metallic sheet that prevents air from entering the kiln. The confined fire burns with less oxygen supply therefore taking time to burn out wood in processing smoking large quantity of fish as compared to the open smoking method.

Drying rack on the other hand is a simple technology that drys sardines in a short period of time as compared to using the ground. It has a surface raised about 1.2m above from ground and 1.5m wide but the length can vary depending on the availability of materials and space e.g 10m to 20m. Sardines are spread on the top surface that as any material that can not let them through.The raised surface prevents dirty(sand) from attaching to the fish therefore improving the quality. The sardines do not lose their original colour making them easy to market and catch high prices. in addition to that, the drying rate is very fast due to air movement from the bottom of the rack going up carrying moisture from the sardines.

Post harvest losses in small scale fisheries

The Department of Fisheries, Ghana and the
Central and Western Fish Improvement Association (CEWEFIA) introduced the
Chorkor2 smoker oven as a means of reducing post-harvest losses. Its introduction has led to smoking large quantities of fish and at the same time producing good quality final products. These ovens have also improved the working conditions for women processors by exposing them to less smoke and heat.
The use of drying racks in Uganda has resulted in a reduction in loss to a
negligible level as compared with the high level of losses in lake sardine for fishmeal because of poor handling and drying on bare floors. During the pilot drying in LT which was conducted by the Ugandan team to compare both methods, the team realized that in terms of quality the product dried on racks was a better quality product than the one dried on the ground. (Post harvest losses in small scale fisheries)

Activities- Class theory training of women trainers, practicals on how to use the drying rack and smoking kiln. Monitoring the women trained on how they are training others in the communities. Assessing how they are managing fish processing as a business. 

Out comes- Women knowledge on hygienic fish processing increases, the general public sensitized through witnessing women using the two technologies.

Short term out comes-The number of trained women will increase as the women trainers  train others. women income will increase. post harvest losses of fish will reduce. rampant cutting of trees will reduce. Fishing pressure on the lake will reduce as the fish will gain value, this is so because fishers tend to compensate lost fish through post harvest losses by fishing again and again.

Long term outcome- Combating climate change, with reduced cutting of trees,global warming will be minimized. Conservation of fish resources as there will be less pressure on the lake, an informed community on the processing of fish using methods that are hygienic and conserves trees. a happy women folk due to high income and business skills. The community will accept the technology.

in the end, the use of these technologies will improve women lives, conserve fish and forest resources, prevent diarrhea diseases such as cholera which common in the area.

currently serving 100

in one year will be serving 500

in five years more than 2000

With the concept of training Women who will be training others, we wish to reach as many women as possible. our target women and girls that we will directly train is 5000 women, if these also train others in their localities, the number is estimated at 50,000 if one women trained by us train at least 10 women.

Lack of financial resources to invite and host women for training is the main barrier to achieving our goals

We will continue writing proposals such as this one for possible funding. if funds are made available, the resources will be used in accordance with the plan as we have done it before.

Full time 6

we are a team with specialized expertise. the team comprise of fisheries expert, forestry expert, community development expert, public health expert,agriculture expert , media expert,accounts expert and Human resources expert.

We all have worked for more than 5 years in each respective field providing extension services to the communities mostly in rural areas.

The team have worked with the Lake Tanganyika Development project that is implementing activities in Zambia specifically in Nsama and Mpulungu Districts. 

we train communities mostly in natural resource conservation, education and healthy. Our clients are people living in rural areas mostly around Lakes and rivers as well as national parks.

Financial problem which is our major challenge.

we wish to partner with organisations that do similar works as ours such as conserving natural resources, uplifting lives of women and girls,  health and general well being of people.

We would like to partner with solve members that are specialized in Natural resource conservation and improving lives of people living in poverty or anything related to that.

Sharing experience and learning from those that have experience more than we do. This can help us implement our projects efficiently.

Our solution is for women and girls, we feel more qualified as we are striving to improve women and girls livelihood. This solution of ours is based improving the income for women. If given this opportunity we can scale up our project by increasing the number of women and girls as our target.