Dried fish isn’t the sexiest innovation. But in Burundi it’s
changing lives, The Guardian reports.
Along the shores of Lake Tanganyika women have always
preserved catches of small sardine-like lake fish called ndagala. The fish were dried on the sandy ground, where they were
vulnerable to animals, contamination and rot, especially during the rainy
season.
“If the fishes got spoiled and began to smell awfully it was
impossible to sell them at market,” Gabriel Butoyi, president of Rumonge
fishing port, told the UN.
As much as 15 percent of the catch was lost or spoiled
during drying, and the surviving sandy fish weren’t exactly appetising.
Ten years ago, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO) set up an 18-month test project in the village of Mvugo, on the lake’s
shore. With the backing of the government, the FAO constructed 48 wire-mesh
racks a metre above the ground, and showed the locals how to make and use them.
The racks reduced drying time by a factor of nine, down to
eight hours, kept the fish out of the reach of animals, and could be covered
when it rained.
“Our fishes are of a good quality without small gravel or
stones and they are dried in hygienic conditions,” rack owner Domitien
Ndabaneze said.
“With our products, customers are no longer concerned with
eating sandy fish.”
The innovation spread fast, and the number of fish driers
has increased fourfold, to more than 2000 people, feeding an estimated 12,000
family members. Given that the quality of fish has improved, demand has
increased faster than supply, so the price has more than doubled to US$6/kg.
“It’s extremely rare now to see people drying fish on the
ground,” FAO fishery industry officer Yvette Diei-Ouadi said.
“If driers can’t afford wire-mesh racks they will improvise
with wood and fishing net. Even fishing communities in neighbouring countries
have taken up the rack-drying technique.”
Others have specialised in making the racks to sell.
There are other benefits. The longer, more reliable lifespan
and improved taste and texture of the dried fish means that dealers (encourage
by the FAO) now buy them to re-sell around the country. Given that 60 percent
of Burundians do not receive enough protein, and that the fish are rich in
protein, vitamins and minerals, they are an excellent source of nutrition for
inland areas.
“Fish have nearly magical qualities on the nutritional
front, especially the small dried ones that are often eaten up whole or mashed up
into pastes that are also eaten whole,” said the FAO’s Christopher Emsden.
Other
changes have had mixed results. The more efficient production means output has
increased and the number of fishermen has doubled, raising concerns about the
lake’s reserves. The FAO has therefore begun teaching locals how to grow other
crops, such as mushrooms, when fish stocks are low.
Similarly,
before the rack-drying technique was introduced, 80 percent of the driers were women,
who spent much of the day bent over, tending to the fish. Now that has changed,
as men keen to make money have joined in, reducing the proportion of fish that
women are able to dry. In an attempt to help women driers stay competitive, the
FAO now offers access to microcredit schemes.
Despite these problems, the scheme has helped peacefully
resettle the half a million refugees and former fighters displaced during the
1993-2005 civil war. Crispin Niragira was a refugee from 1993 to 2007, and now
works as a member of a fish drying association.
“When we arrived from Tanzania,
I was so scared for my family,” Niragira said.
“We had nothing, no support from
anyone. Joining the association has changed our lives. With the money that I
earned I was able to put seven children through school, three of whom have now
finished.”
The FAO is attempting to roll out the scheme in other
countries, including Uganda, Kenya and Zambia. On the ground in Burundi, it’s
already improving lives – and should continue to do so, as long as the fish
last.
Read the article HERE.
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