I Norden hængte man tørfisk på stativer og eksporterede den i store mængder til Sydeuropa – i Burundi lagde man fisken til tørre på sandet og det har aldrig været en god idé. Men nu er de gamle metoder fra nord kommer fiskerne i syd til gode.
ROME 9 July 2014 (FAO): A FAO project to equip small fishing communities with the tools and know-how to dry fish on simple raised racks (stativer) instead of on the sand has changed lives along the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Central African Burundi.
Women had always dried catches of small sardine-like silver lake fish called ndagala on the ground, where they were easy pickings for animals and vulnerable to being trampled and contaminated. During the rainy season, many fish would be washed away or start to rot.
“If the fishes got spoiled and began to smell awfully it was impossible to sell them at market,” said Gabriel Butoyi, president of Rumonge fishing port.
In total, around 15 percent of the catch was lost or spoiled during the drying process.
The project started ten years ago
Working with Burundi’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, FAO first set up a tiny project in the village of Mvugo ten years ago, constructing just 48 cheap wire-mesh racks (trådnet) suspended a metre above the ground, offering training and distributing leaflets on how to build the racks.
Driers quickly saw the benefits, with racks reducing drying time from three days to just eight hours, meaning producers can dry multiple batches of fish in the same day.
The fish are out of reach of animals, and racks can also be covered when it rains, preventing spoilage.
“Our fishes are of a good quality without small gravel (grus) or stones and they are dried in hygienic conditions,” said rack owner Domitien Ndabaneze, adding: “With our products, customers are no longer concerned with eating sandy fish.”
Explosion of racks
Word spread fast among fishing communities, and the use of racks exploded along the shores of the lake.
The area dedicated to fish drying near the village of Mvugo has increased from 4.000 square meters in 2004 to 20.000 sqm today, and the number of driers at all official fishing sites along the shores of Lake Tanganyika has increased from 500 to over 2.000.
The quantity of fish lost or wasted due to inadequate drying practices has more than halved, and as the quality of the dried fish has improved, prices have more than doubled, from 4.000 Burundian francs (2,5 US dollar) per kilo in 2004 to 9.000 (six dollar) per kilo in 2013.
“I am able to look after my child because of the business I do trading fish,” said Pelousi Ndayisaba, a former rebel fighter who turned to fish drying, noting: “It is the only activity that provides me with a living.”
The rack drying technique also reduces daily drudgery (slid og slæb) for the driers, as women no longer have to bend down to spread and turn fish on the ground.
Pressure on the lake´s resources
Small-scale operations have sprung up providing the material for, and building, the racks, also helping to improve the livelihoods of fishing communities and the local economy.
The longer shelf life (holdbarhed) of rack-dried fish means that the high-protein ndagala can be transported not only to inland but also transborder and regional markets, contributing to the nutrition of communities who live far from sources of fresh fish.
Yet at the same time, the increase in supply has not put greater pressure on the lake’s resources, as the amount of fish being taken from the lake has remained relatively stable.
“The extraordinary thing is how this one very small project has created a snowball effect along the shores of the lake,” said FAO Fishery Industry Officer Yvette Diei-Ouadi.
“It is extremely rare now to see people drying fish on the ground – if driers cannot 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”, stated she.
The way forward
Læs videre på http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/238308/icode
