Through a fund set up under the EU-Côte d'Ivoire SFPA, the women fish processor cooperative purchased a refrigerated container and placed it in San Pedro, a fish-producing area in the west of the country, which lacked conservation facilities and where large quantities of artisanal fisheries landings were lost as a result
During the 2016 and 2018 Joint Committees on the implementation of the Protocol to the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) between the European Union and Côte d'Ivoire, the European counterpart expressed its interest in supporting women fish processors in order to help them gain better access to raw materials, in particular by giving them direct access to the 'faux thon' landed in Abidjan by European fleets and by supporting the improvement of their living conditions through the financing of various activities. This was the result of several years of advocacy by CFFA and its partners (in Côte d'Ivoire, the women's cooperative USCOFEP-CI). The Ivorian Ministry of Animal and Fishery Resources (MIRAH), through the Support Programme for the Sustainable Management of Fishery Resources (PAGDRH), thus set up a fund, coming from the financial contribution of the SFPA, to help improve the income of women processors.
With an initial amount of 17 Million CFA francs (approx. 26,000€), USCOFEP-CI purchased a forty-foot refrigerated container for the conservation and processing of fish. USCOFEP-CI's internal management committee decided to place it in San-Pedro, a fishing area 300 km west of Abidjan, where, due to lack of conservation facilities, large quantities of landed fish are being lost. Thanks to the refrigerated container, these post-harvest losses will be greatly reduced, and the additional quantities of frozen fish that can be marketed will also supply Abidjan's cooperatives of women processors, pending the implementation of access to false tuna landings in Abidjan.
Women fish processors from the local cooperative in San Pedro, Côte d'Ivoire, celebrate the container's arrival. Video: Facebook from USCOFEP-CI.
In fact, women fish processors have pointed out that difficulties in accessing 'faux thon' continue, and the Coronavirus crisis has not worked in their favour. Since mid-March, social distancing measures and other restrictions have been progressively implemented by the Government of Côte d'Ivoire to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The women of USCOFEP-CI have made every effort to ensure that their activities continue so that food is on the plates of their families and the Ivorian population. Fish represents on average 22% of protein intake in sub-Saharan Africa and in some countries this figure exceeds 50%.
The container in San-Pedro, purchased with funds under the SFPA, will help improve the working and living conditions of women processors in San Pedro and Abidjan by facilitating the collection, conservation and marketing of fish products from the area, reducing post-harvest losses, and providing supplies to USCOFEP-CI members to continue operations during off-peak periods in Abidjan. "This is the first time we have seen a concrete positive impact of the fisheries agreement with the European Union at the level of fishing communities, particularly women processors," says Micheline Dion, President of USCOFEP-CI.
Banner photo: Celebration of International Women's Day in Locodjro by USCOFEP-CI in March 2020. By Andréa Durighello/GIZ.
This article by Andréa Durighello analyses, through the example of the Ivory Coast, the value of women's cooperatives and associations in African artisanal fisheries: in the professionalisation of the trade, in strengthening capacities, in representing women in professional organisations and, above all, in responding unitedly to the hazards of life.