With no less than five national addresses in the first two weeks of the COVID-19 crisis in Ghana, President Nana Akufo-Ado has made the most of his communications team and become a bit of a star. Ghana reported its first two cases on 12 March and he immediately put in place a committee composed of health officials and private sector stakeholders. Since then, the curve has grown exponentially, and two months later, more than 5,100 cases have been reported, with 22 deaths, according to Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. “We know how we can bring the economy back to life,” he said as he announced the measures to fight the epidemic, “what we do not know is how to bring people back to life.”
The Ghanaian President addressed the nation at least five times during the first weeks of the crisis and has ensured the continuation of activities in the food supply chain. Photo: @NAkufoAddo. Banner photo: Samuel Aboh.
The focus was not only on health and prevention, Pres. Akufo-Ado also took proactive measures to guarantee food supply to the Ghanaians: a milder lockdown for food producers, to ensure they could continue working. Prices for basic food increased the first 2-3 days of the lockdown, but then came down and stabilized again. Other initiatives, aimed at helping compliance with sanitary measures, such as hand-washing, were also put in place: households could delay paying the water bill and those neighborhoods without running water were provided with water tanks.
However, for the Ghanaian fishers from the informal and small-scale sector, other hurdles remain. The closure of borders means losing markets, customers and opportunities. Indeed, Ghanaian fishermen, women fish processors and fishmongers are found in all of West Africa coastal countries up to Mauritania, where Ghanaian fish processors ferment fish and send it back to be sold in Ghana.
“COVID has impacted the activities in all four regions,” insists Mr. Noku, a 54-year-old fisherman and an executive member of the Western regional section of the Ghana National Canoes Fishermen’s Council (GNCFC). He was answering the questions of Nana Kwame Darko, a journalist based in Accra, who went to Axim, a coastal town in the Western region, to the west of Cape Three points, approximately 100 km from the border with Ivory Coast, to talk to the fishing communities.
Mr. Noku asks that the small-scale fisheries be allowed to work across borders as for agricultural sector and industrial fisheries.
Before measures to prevent the propagation of the virus were taken, fishermen from Axim would have worked in both Ghanaian and Ivorian waters, as the very porous border with Ivory Coast allowed them to navigate undisturbed up to Abidjan. They would go out to sea with little quantities of ice, catch fish along the way and land their catches in Ivorian ports. But with the current closure of the border fishermen cannot access Ivorian waters anymore, which in turn reduces their catching possibilities. “We used to sell in Abidjan, but we now run out of ice before we journey back to Axim,” state the fishermen on the beach who explain the ice to keep the fish fresh melts before they can do the round trip and fish gets spoiled.
At the Axim landing site, there are up to 500 registered canoes. To lessen the congestion on the shore, the fishermen were asked to go out to sea in shifts. But a reduced number of fishing trips, with less manpower, means a decrease in catches, which in turn diminishes the profits that can be used to buy fuel for the next trip. Since they have nothing else to do, idle fishers loiter on the beach waiting for their turn to go to sea, thus defeating the purpose of the decongestion measure.
To reduce the congestion on shore when pirogues come back from fishing, fishermen are asked to go to sea in shifts. The rest of fishermen wait on the beach, which defeats the purpose of the measure. Photo: NKD
On their own initiative, they have installed hand-washing stations and other necessary disinfectant and sanitizers as a means of preventing the spread of the virus. The fishermen think the authorities in charge of fisheries have neglected them but they trust the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development is going to help them soon.
The closure of borders has had further impacts on the operational costs such as the loss of their fishing nets in the ocean currents. “When it drifts into the waters of Cote d’Ivoire, then it's gone forever because we will not be permitted by the coast guards to go for them,” they lament.
The reduced access to fishing possibilities makes Ghanaian fishers bitter: during the initial period of the lockdown, Ghanaians started stocking up and this increased the demand for fish products. The demand also increased via online marketing applications which link fishermen to consumers. Nevertheless, hurdles in the supply chain, particularly transport, remain, making it difficult for fishers to take advantage of these new opportunities. The reduction of fishing trips is the final blow. On the shore, when the canoes land, women fishmongers gather and struggle to buy a portion of the reduced catch.
For fishmongers like Ms. Abena Tawiah, business has never been so bad. She has lost much of her processed fish since her usual customers have not been allowed to cross the Ivorian-Ghanaian border. Photo: NKD.
Mrs. Abena Tawiah has been a fishmonger for over thirty (30) years, and notes the Coronavirus has immensely affected her sales. “This is a first since I started my business”, she says. Her regular customers are from Côte d’Ivoire who are now forbidden to enter Ghana. Her trade suffers from post-harvest losses, as she is unable to sell her dry and salted fish quickly enough. With reduced sales, she has less funds to buy fresh fish to process, an inevitable downward spiral. Many fishmongers had to dismiss labour force, rendering many women and youth jobless.
On the other hand, social distancing protocols leave drivers and transporters no choice but to reduce the number of passengers as directed by the Ghana Private Road Transporters Union (GPRTU). This directive is taking a toll on the traders and fishmongers who operate across the borders. The drivers are reluctant to load their goods because they are checked and harrassed at some custom checkpoints and others are simply not allowed in Cote d’Ivoire. Ice melts during the long delays at the checkpoints, making it impossible to export fresh fish.
Mr. Noku suggests that since the government allows those in the agricultural and fisheries industries to operate across borders, it should also give clearance for the small-scale fisheries sector, especially those fishermen and fishmongers who fish and sell across the border with Ivory Coast.
Is a radio journalist based in Accra and a member of the Network of Journalists for Responsible Fisheries in Africa (REJOPRA).