In Tolaria, Madagascar, about 1,000 kilometers southwest of capital Antananarivo, pretty much every woman working in this city by the sea has a connection to the fishing industry. A large number of these women are fishmongers who say they face challenges selling fish because they lack basics like ice and cold storage to bring fresh product to buyers and to preserve fish during the non-fishing season.
"We have struggled to access viable markets, which has limited our ability to sell fish at fair prices," said Virginie Gorette Ratiarainandrasana, Chairperson of the National Network of Women in Fisheries in Madagascar.
The struggle is real, but on the wane for Tolaria's women fish mongers, as an African Development Bank-financed regional integration program is reducing fishery post-harvest loss in Madagascar and across the Southern African Development Community region.
The "Multinational Program for Improving Fisheries Governance and Blue Economy Trade Corridors in Southern African Development Community," also known as ProFishBlue, provided Ratiarainandrasana and the National Network of Women in Fisheries with a three-ton refrigerated truck to help preserve and distribute fish from Tolaria, in addition to training schemes to reduce post-harvest loss.
"This support will enable women to increase their earnings and improve their living standards," Ratiarainandrasana said at a recent truck handover ceremony, attended by Madagascar's Minister for Fisheries and Blue Economy Dr. Paubert Tsimanaoraty Mahatante, as well as representatives from the Southern African Development Community Secretariat, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, women fishmonger associations and other project partners.
Minister Mahatante told ceremony attendees that ProFishBlue's efforts align with Madagascar's national strategies to develop the fisheries sector sustainably and empower women and youth groups towards inclusive development.
The African Development Bank and the Southern African Development Community Secretariat launched ProFishBlue in March 2022, with the Bank providing $9.2 million in grant financing to support transboundary fisheries governance, facilitate inter-regional trade, and reduce fishery and aquaculture post-harvest losses in the region.
"African Development Bank support for ProFishBlue demonstrates our belief that women and youth are engines of the continent's economic growth. Women are central to the fish value chain, from the fishing net to the dinner plate, throughout southern Africa and the continent as a whole. ProFishBlue promotes competitiveness in the retail and wholesale cross-border fish trade - that increases value, household income and quality of life for women in the sector," said Ahmed Khan, Chief Fisheries Officer and Blue Economy Coordinator at African Development Bank.
The initiative has also extended support to Bank regional member countries including delivering fish hatcheries and fisheries research equipment in Malawi and Zambia, business development services to small and medium enterprises in Tanzania, and state-of-the-art laboratory equipment to Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo's Bureau of Standards to carry out tests on fish and fishery products.
The Southern African Development Community Secretariat implements ProFishBlue initiatives in partnership with the African Organisation for Standardisation, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, WorldFish, and Worldwide Fund for Nature. The African Union-facilitated African Women Fish Processor and Traders Network brought civil society inputs for the design of the project to support inclusion of women in the fisheries sector.
Madagascar's National Network of Women in Fisheries is one of seven small or medium enterprises in as many southern African countries that the project selected to receive refrigerated trucks. The Network operates in 11 of Madagascar's 23 regions and represents more than 8,200 women in 118 women-led fishery associations. Southern African Development Community Secretariat Director of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources, Domingos Gove, said he is optimistic that the refrigerated truck would significantly enhance the livelihoods of women engaged in fish processing and value addition.
PROFISHBLUE also provided the seven beneficiary enterprises with training on governance, finance, asset management and post-harvest practices of fish and fishery products.
