Buyers carry a tilapia from Lake Turkana. Kemfri’s Electronic Fish Market Information System covers Lake Victoria and Lake Turkana, among others. FILE
By DALTON NYABUNDI
IN SUMMARY
Kemfri’s mobile phone technology boosts trade for anglers, buyers and processors.
A fish market tracking system launched by the Kenya Marine Fisheries Research Institute (Kemfri) on Lake Victoria is recording benefits among fisheries stakeholders three years later.
The mobile phone technology piloted and implemented on the lake for the past three years to improve fish trade has permeated the country and is shielding dealers from losses previously caused by lack of market information that saw over Sh50 million worth of fish lost annually in post-harvest handling.
The Electronic Fish Market Information System (EFMIS-Ke) co-ordinator Dr Ojwang’ Oweke said the system has been a success, reaching over 30, 000 fishers on Lake Victoria alone and thousands of fish traders and processors across the country.
The system includes complete coverage of Lake Victoria, Lake Turkana, Lake Naivasha, Lake Baringo, the whole length of the marine coast, not less than 30 main urban markets in Kenya and selected fish fingerling and feed producers in the aquaculture sub-sector.
Beach management units (BMUs) officers, fishermen and fish traders interviewed by the Business Daily said the system had caused positive changes in the sector, resulting in improved efficiency.
The chairman of Kisumu County BMUs Network, John Ouya, said losses previously suffered by fishermen and traders, occasioned by poor market information, have been reduced significantly
“Real time communication reaching traders as soon as the fish land on the sites has reduced losses since they quickly arrive to make purchases,” he said.
Ruth Anyango, a trader at the Kisumu municipal fresh fish market said the technology has witnessed stability in supply and prices of fish since it has eliminated unscrupulous middlemen who took advantage of disorganisation to exploit fishermen and traders.
The targeted beneficiaries of EFMIS-Ke are small-scale fishermen, fish farmers, fish processors and traders at landing sites and markets.
Studies say small-scale fisheries in developing countries often perform sub-optimally owing to lack of vital market information, leading to inefficiencies, inequity, and post-harvest losses.
According to Mr Robert Oketch, the Efmis database manager, the mobile phone, which is the fastest growing communications media in Africa, was the most suited for addressing market information gaps.
“Efmis, an ICT pilot project based on mobile phones, has been implemented in Kenya’s Lake Victoria fisheries for three years to enhance fish trade and incomes for the fisher community through improved access to market information.
Through the system, data from fish landing sites and inland urban markets is continuously relayed to a central database where it is appropriately packaged into a format that users can access in real time by sending a query through mobile phone SMS. The system is automated and responds within 10 seconds. Market information is also disseminated through monthly electronic bulletins,” he says.
By early last year, the project had spread to the other inland lakes and fish markets across the country. In August this year, the system was endorsed by Uganda whose fisheries resources account for over 12 per cent of the gross domestic product, second chief foreign exchange earner after coffee.
In Kenya, fisheries accounts for less than one per cent, a factor Kemfri has attributed to as cause for low government support.
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