At a press conference at the Mballing fish processing site in Mbour (80 km south of Dakar, in Senegal), women fish processors have asked their government for funding to help them better cope with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
These women are grouped in what is called an “Economic Interest Grouping” (EIGs). Their spokesperson, Maguette Diène, said they are "worried, because we were surprised by the appearance [...] of the coronavirus […] This is why we are asking President Macky Sall to set up a funding mechanism, which could be a plan for economic and social resilience.”
She explained women are suffering huge losses because they are unable to sell the fish products they had processed, which are now rotting in their hands, “when people need our products. Please help us, Mr. President, to get our heads above water,” she pleaded.
A woman washing fish before processing it (drying or smoking). Like most processing sites, the Mballing site faces water problems, among others, while women fish processing work requires hygiene. Photos: Joëlle Philippe/CFFA.
Gaoussou Gueye, president of APRAPAM, a civil society organization that promotes good practices among fishing communities, highlighted the lack of hygiene and sanitary conditions these fish processing sites have and deplored the “poor working conditions” for women. For him, the COVID-19 crisis is shining a light on this long-postponed problem that needs to be addressed.
In many cases, these women had to make do to put in place measures to prevent the spreading of the disease. A few kilometres to the South of Mballing, the EIG of Nianing, which in the past year put in place a savings pool to fund women fish processors’ businesses, had to use their savings to buy sanitary and hygiene kits.
Source: Agence de presse sénégalaise, personal contacts.