Women’s experiences in small scale fish processing in Lake Feferuwa fishing community, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

H I Ibrahim, A A Kigbu* and R Mohammed*

Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, Faculty of Agriculture,
Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Shabu-Lafia Campus
Hassibrahim@yahoo.com
* Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries
Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Shabu-Lafia Campus

Abstract

Access to productive resources among women fish processors in Lake Feferuwa fishing community, Nasarawa State, Nigeria was studied using cross-sectional data. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 50 respondents for the study. Simple descriptive statistics and Likert scale were used for data analysis.

The respondents’ major reason for involvement in fish processing is to generate income for payment of children’s school/medical fees. Results also revealed that women had better access to fish production/fishing (mean=0.62). Their access to extension services/training (mean=0.28), capital (mean=0.12), modern technologies (mean=0.04) and rural institutions (mean=0.00) were limited. The major constraints faced by women fish processors were lack of collateral to obtain bank loan, lack of modern fish processing facilities, inadequate extension services and inadequate fish storage facilities. The major occupational hazard reported by the respondents was redness/swelling of eye.

It was recommended that educating respondents on how to form and manage cooperative societies can enable them have better access to some productive resources.

Keywords: Likert scale, resources, hazards, constraints

Introduction

The status of women in our society over the ages and all over the culture had always been considered inferior to men. They are regarded as weaklings capable of doing nothing except child bearing and home making (Enomuoh 1995). In most developing countries like Nigeria, there are patriarchal systems of social setting. In this tradition, men hold the sovereign power, control household and the society as a whole while women are ascribed to a lower hierarchy compared to men (Balk 1997). The historical deprivations of women socially, legally, politically and technologically aggravate their position and they are subordinated as a production unit for bearing and rearing children (Ahmad 2001). Furthermore, economic extension and other public institutions are gender biased and often ignore the needs of women. Baden (1997) identified some gender based differentiations within the household including access to processing resources, control over family labour, inequality in consumption and responsibility for domestic expenditure. Tamale (2004) argues that the non-recognition of women’s labour for domestic chores is reinforced by the unequal allocation of resources. Thus, the lack of access to and control over productive resources is the main factor limiting women participation in economic activities including fish processing thereby hampering the human development process (Acharya 2003). The role of women in food production, processing and marketing has become more relevant as a way of fighting poverty and ensuring food security (Okorley et al 1998). Women play a crucial role in fisheries, their main activities are processing and marketing of fish products (Paris and Chi 2005). Fish processing involves the preparation of fish for direct consumption or for preservation. Traditional fish processing activities include gutting, washing the fish, splitting, filleting, sticking the fish and smoking (Okorley and kwarten 2006). In many African countries the popular option is fish as food. Fish is relatively available throughout the year and its varying cost falls within then economic mean of most family budget. Although fishing is done on a continuous basis in riverine communities in Nigeria. It is noticeable that a bumper harvest occurs mostly during dry seasons to ensure the availability of fish throughout the year especially during lean season. It is essential to preserve fish in appreciable quantities in good condition until its use is required. In some developing countries such as Ghana which is committed to solving perennial problem of protein malnutrition then high post harvest loses in fisheries must be minimized or eliminated. Ironically, researches in Africa have indicated high post harvest losses in fisheries over the years (FAO 1982). For instance, heavy post harvests losses as high as 40% were reported in mid 1970s’ in the Nigeria part of Lake Chad. However, it was reduced to about 10% after processing techniques and transportation on the lake improved (FAO 1982). It was also reported in Ghana that about 100,000 tonnes of fish go waste annually through poor handling and unhygienic treatment as well as absence of improved technologies for processing and preservation (Mensah 1997).

Akinola et al (2006) stated that despite the rudimentary nature of traditional fish processing method, lack of control over the drying rate sometimes result to under-drying or over-drying, expose the fish to unexpected winds, dust, dirt, insect infestation and contaminants such as flies. Traditional fish processing method is still predominantly used in our fishing communities in Nigeria. Therefore women must be encouraged to participate in processing activities of fish to reduce post-harvest losses. Traditional fish processing has been the domain task of women in most fishing communities it is believed that if given the chance, women can contribute substantially to the development of fisheries and the aquaculture industry in Nigeria.

Statement of Problem

Fish is highly susceptible to deterioration without any preservation or processing measures (Okonta and Ekelemu 2005). Immediately fish dies, a number of physiological and microbial deterioration sets in and thereby degrades quality of fish. With the yearly increase of catch, post-harvest losses is on the increase due to inadequate fish processors and also processing fish using traditional methods within our fishing communities is slow and labour intensive, this makes it impossible to process all excess fish caught in times of abundance, thereby preventing all year round supply of fish for human consumption. Akinola et al (2006) reported different fish preservative methods to include drying, smoking, freezing, chilling and brining but the most prominent method in Lake Feferuwa fishing community of Nasarawa state is smoking/drying. This could be adduced to the fact that most fishing communities in Nasarawa state have no access to electricity to freeze their fish in times of excess. Electricity supply itself remains a less reliable source of energy for small and large scale industries including processing and preservation of fish in Nigeria. Paris and Chi (2005) confirmed that women play a major role in fish processing activities as well as marketing thus become relevant in ensuring food security in our society. Despite the obvious role played by women in ensuring that quality fish supplies reach the final consumers as well as ensuring food security at large, there has been little or no recognition of the role of women in the fisheries sector. Policies and programmes are being instituted without given due considerations to the role of women. Women have also been battling with various social-economic obstacles which affect their productivity in the agricultural sector (Rahman and Alamu 2003). Furthermore, women do not get adequate contact with the extension agents for enlightenment on improved fish processing techniques, as such they are denied access to improved processing techniques and thus affecting their productivity. Despite the effort of government in supporting women in agriculture (WIA) programmes in the country, problems still persist. A study of this nature is therefore necessary to provide relevant information on the status of women involvement in fisheries for policy makers to focus their intervention towards correcting gender inequality. The information on the factors influencing accessibility of women to fisheries resources may be of great advantages in creating enabling environment for empowering women and given them opportunity to realize their full potentials in fish production and processing. Based on the foregoing, the specific objectives of the study are to:

• describe the socio-economic characteristics of women fish processors.
• identify reasons for women involvement in fish processing.
• determine the extent of access to productive resources.
• identify constraints faced by fish processors.
• determine the occupational hazards of fish processing.

Description of the study area

Lake Feferuwa is located between longitude 8°50^’ East and latitude 8°40^’ North. It is situated about 8kilometers north of Asakio, a town 40kilometers east of Lafia on the Lafia-Shendam road in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. The lake is approximately 7.5 kilometers long and 1.25 kilometers wide at its widest point during dry the season with an estimated surface area of about 4 km² in the dry season and 5 km² during the wet season. Lake Feferuwa originated from springs both outside and within Lafia area. The water flows through a flood plain area before emptying into Lake Feferuwa through a thickly vegetated inlet channel. The inlet channel of the lake (a continuation of river feferuwa) flows into river Gwayaka, which is a tributary of the river Dep. The river Dep itself flows into the Benue River at the south-eastern corner of the Awe grazing reserve. The inlet channel is covered with a thick mat of aquatic vegetation comprising mostly of Nymphea spp. and Ceratophylum spp., the outlet channel trees and shrubs together with flooded grasses but with little or no aquatic cover. The lake has about 50 fish species with economically important fish species comprise of only 10%. Evidence from frame and catchment assessment and surveys of the traditional fishing industry conducted by Ita et al (1979) revealed that, there were about 121 canoes and over 207 fishermen located in 13 fishing camps and villages along the shores of Lake Feferuwa.

Methodology

Two villages namely; Tunga-Nupawa and Tunga-Daudu were purposively selected in the study area based on their intensity in fish processing activities. Twenty-five women fish processors were randomly selected from the two villages therefore, a total of 50 respondents were selected and enumerated for the study. Primary data were used for the study, this were collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire which was administered to the respondents. Data were collected over a period of 2 weeks. Data collected were on socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, reasons for their involvement in fish processing, degree of their accessibility to productive resources, constraints faced by women fish processors and their health status due to fish processing. Descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, mean and percentages were used to satisfy objectives i, ii, iv and v. The extent of access to productive resources (objective iii) was satisfied using the Likert scale with a weight of ‘0’ representing no access, ‘1’ for low access, ‘2’ for medium access and ‘3’ for high access. Finally a rank order was developed among the five resources based on mean score obtained for each item.

Results and discussion

Socio-economic characteristics of respondents

The socio-economic characteristics of respondents in the study area are described in Table 1. The results revealed that the mean age of the respondents was 39 years. About 40% of the respondents were within the age range of 38-41 years. The proportion of married women fish processors was highest (42%). The respondents had up to six children on the average. A low level of education was observed among the respondents as 60% had no formal education while only 22% were educated up to primary school level. This findings agrees with that of Aqeela et al (2005) that two third of the one billion illiterate persons in the world are women and girls. The average quantity of fish processed daily by the respondents was 3kg implying that the processors operated at a small scale level of fish due to the use of tradition methods of fish processing. Some of the respondents (42%) were also engaged in farming activities and about 24% also engage in petty trading. About 50% of the respondents earned between N600 – N900 daily with an average daily earning of N1,000. Furthermore, 42% of the respondents were married women, 32% and 26% were widowed and divorced respectively.  

 Reasons for involvement in fish processing

Several reasons are behind the involvement of the respondents in fish processing. The results in Table 2 revealed that the major reasons for involvement in fish processing was to generate income for payment of their children’s school and medical fees followed by the need to purchase household assets.  

Extent of women’s accessibility to productive resources

The extent of women’s accessibility to productive resources is shown in Table 3. In this study, access means the ability of rural women to get five socio-economic resources and accrue benefits from them. The full meanings of these resources are illustrated below.

·         Access to capital: Opportunity to get loans, micro-credit and banking services from any formal and informal institution.

·         Access to extension service and training: opportunities to develop technical skills for production/processing through training and obtain information about development aspects from any extension agency.

·         Access to fish production and fishing: ability and availability of quality fish seed for homestead production and fishing for income generation.

·         Access to rural institution: any cooperative or association within the locality providing production inputs, financial supports, storage facilities and other opportunities through women active participation.

·         Access to modern technologies: availability of cost-effective and appropriate technologies for production and processing. 

The result in the Table revealed that the respondents had better access to fish production/fishing (mean=0.62) and extension services/training (mean=0.23) compared to other resources. However, their access to capital availability, modern technologies, formal or informal institutions were limited. In support of the qualitative data obtained through questionnaire administration, the resources and underlying facts are described here on the basis of rank order;

Access to extension services/training: 79% of the respondents had no opportunity to receive services from different extension agencies such as the State Agricultural Development Project. They reported that having access to such services are mostly directed towards male farmers and female extension agents are very limited in numbers. As a result they lack modern avenues of knowledge and information, new technologies and opportunities for training to increase their level of processing and income.

Access to capital: Most of the respondents (88%) had no access to credit from NGOs, Agricultural banks, money lenders and relatives. The respondents were almost always excluded from loans from commercial banks because of lack of collateral. The respondents reported that their access to institutional loan was further restricted by their lack of education, lack of familiarity with loan providers and restriction on their mobility.

Access to modern technologies: Almost all the respondents had no access to modern technologies. They used traditional tools and practices for fish processing due to lack of capital and extension services to avail themselves of the opportunity of acquiring knowledge and skills on the use of modern improved and proven fish smoking technologies.

Access to rural institution: All the respondents lacked access to knowledge on the formation and involvement in fisheries co-operatives or informal associations, which created opportunities for savings, loans, discussions and participation in social events like agricultural fairs.

Occupational hazards of fish processing

The occupational hazards associated with fish processing are described in Table 4.  

The table revealed that five major occupational hazards were reported by the respondents, namely; redness/swelling of the eye, heat rashes/eczema, pile, asthma and rheumatism. A study by Nwachukwu and Garba (2004) reported that, poor people living in areas without any sanitation or hygiene education spend six times more on medical care than people who lived in areas with access to sanitation and who had a basic knowledge of household hygiene. Chavan et al (2009) also identified diarrhea, dysentery and skin disease as diseases that affect fishermen during fish drying practices.

Constraints faced by women fish processors         

The constraints in fish processing are presented in Table 5.  

The result revealed that the major constraints faced by women fish processors are lack of collateral to obtain bank loans which ranks first followed lack of modern fish processing facilities, inadequate extension services and lack of access to fish storage facilities. 

Conclusion and recommendations

• Women in the study area processed small quantity of fish daily, hence earned low income due to lack of accessibility to productive resources such as capital, modern technologies, rural institution, extension services and training and other constraints they faced which include inadequate storage facilities, and poor marketing arrangement. The effort of reducing post harvest losses and ensuring utilization of fish and fisheries products is relevant therefore the followings are recommended.

  
  

• There is need to introduce and educate women fish processors with respect to adoption of modern fish smoking technology. Improvement of smoked fish quality could help to minimize post harvest losses.

  
  

• The respondents need to be sensitized about available financial resources such as the activities of the Badakoshi Agricultural Scheme in the State as well as the National Fadama Development Project. This will go a long way in improving their access to capital/credit.

  
  

• Nasarawa State Agricultural Development Programme (NADP) extension agents should be encouraged and motivated to reach out to women fish processors in order to train them on modern fish processing technologies.

  
  

• Women fish processors should be educated on how to form and manage cooperative societies. These will help to give them a good bargaining power for their products.

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Received 1 November 2010; Accepted 22 January 2011; Published 6 March 2011

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