This article was taken from the website of the USCOFEP-CI cooperative and translated into English for CFFA-CAPE. The Union was created in January 2016 and has 27 cooperatives and 4 others in the process of being set up throughout the country. Its main objective is to improve the living and working conditions of its members, fighting against poverty and promoting the empowerment of women in the artisanal fishing sector.
Header photo by Rich Press, and the rest of the photos by Andrea Durighello.
In August 2020, representatives of the different cooperatives of USCOFEP-CI met in San Pedro to celebrate the installation of a 40-foot container, the first real impact perceived by women fish processors and fishmongers from the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between Côte d'Ivoire and the European Union.
The decision to make this container available to San Pedro was taken by the members of the Union during a meeting of the management committee. By choosing to locate the container in this fish-rich area, this strategic decision was intended to become a lever for supplying the Lower Sassandra region with fish products, but also Abidjan, where the artisanal fishing season lasts only about 3 months per year.
In addition to the container, the management committee decided to make available a working capital of 2,000,000 XOF [+/- 3050€, ed] to the San Pedro cooperative to facilitate the acquisition of fish. Two and a half years later, in 2022, the President of the San Pedro cooperative, a member of USCOFEP-CI, is still proudly posing in front of the container, accompanied by the cooperative's treasurer. The container is very well maintained, the cooperative makes a point of it. "The container must always be clean, it is a question of hygiene," says the treasurer. "Even if it means using a lot of water.”
Yet inside the container, only a few crates dot the floor. And this day is not an exception. The reality is that today, the cooperative does not have the funds to buy enough fish and store it in the container. The boxes that we see today belong to fishers who are not members of the cooperative, and which the San Pedro cooperative stores for a fee. The revenue from the container is therefore derived from services rendered to stakeholders outside the cooperative. The income from this service allows Monique Benye and her team to cover the expenses related to the use of the container: the rent for the location at the port, the two young employees who take care of the upkeep and maintenance of the container, as well as the water and electricity bills. After paying the charges, the cooperative has nothing left. While it is not losing money at the moment, it is not making a profit either.
Inside the container, a few boxes are scattered around the floor, belonging to fishmongers who are not members of the cooperative and who store for a fee, as the cooperative does not have sufficient funds to buy fish.
Yet the women of San Pedro have a vision and ambitions, which are hampered by the lack of access to financing. "We want to make things big," says Monique. "We want people to know us.” Unlike in Abidjan, where the supply of fish resources can be complicated by the lack of transparency in the market, the boats that land at the fishing port of San Pedro are willing to sell the product of their fishing to the women of the cooperative. This is on the condition that they have the funds to acquire it, which is not the case today.
While they thought they had found the solution to ensure the supply of the cooperative and contribute to the revitalization of the entire Union, the women of San Pedro are facing another major challenge, which unfortunately affects all women in the sector: access to credit and thus to the liquidity needed to build up working capital, which is necessary to purchase fish.
Today, the women's priority is to build up working capital so that they can buy enough fish to make the container profitable, and to save money to invest in other productive equipment, including vehicles to transport their products. Initially, priority will be given to the purchase of bins, baskets or wheelbarrows to transport the fish. In the long term, one ambition would be to turn to more energy-efficient innovations, such as solar-powered refrigeration equipment. The focus is currently on their sisters in Grand-Béréby, who are receiving support from the NGO CEM for the acquisition and installation of a solar-powered cold store at the fishing port of this tourist paradise in Côte d'Ivoire.
For the time being, the women have already contributed to raise funds. They are now paying their dues, which has allowed them to raise enough to start. But this is not yet enough, as they estimate their working capital needs at a minimum of XOF 15 million [approx. 23,000€, ed.]. They have tried to approach COOPEC, but the interest is very high. USCOFEP-CI is now applying for a loan from another microfinance institution in Côte d'Ivoire.
The San Pedro container is a key solution to combat post-harvest losses in Côte d'Ivoire, which according to the latest FAO figures varied between 20 and 50 percent of catches in 2016. By reducing these losses and promoting the conservation of fresh fish products, the container represents a direct opportunity to increase the income of the members of the cooperative and, in turn, of the Union, but also to reduce the pressure on the fish resource and strengthen the food security of the populations. However, such innovations can only be effective if they are implemented in a comprehensive manner, by providing technical support for the innovation and by addressing the challenges faced by women in a holistic manner, starting with access to financing and credit and the ability to manage such financing.
By working to deploy innovations like the San Pedro container, USCOFEP-CI can play a big role in implementing the "Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods" in which the Heads of State and Government of the African Union pledged to halve current levels of post-harvest losses by 2025 compared to 2015.
We, the women of USCOFEP-CI as well as all women fishmongers and fish processors, are part of the solution. Let's remember that, according to FAO, "the solutions to the problem of food loss and waste are based on the implementation of good policies, the use of appropriate technologies, skills and knowledge, services and infrastructure, the regulatory environment, social equity and gender parity, links with markets and knowledge of markets". It is on the basis of this observation that we urge the institutional and financial partners of Côte d'Ivoire to put in place a framework conducive to the realization of this potential.
West Africa has pioneered several decades of artisanal fisheries management reform. Yet there are still major obstacles to co-management: a lack of political will reflected in low budgetary allocations; inadequate and poorly targeted support for fisher organizations; poorly defined roles and responsibilities of fishers in co-management; lack of enforcement of inshore exclusive zones; and inadequate defense of human rights and particularly the important role of women.