By Samuel Hinneh
Women fish processors based in Winneba in the Effutu municipal assembly of the central region are calling on the government to put in place measures leading to the construction of a market to assist in providing quality fishes to attain nutrition security in the country.
The fish processors, say that their present condition of non-access to any place to market their produce cause lots of unhygienic exposure to fishes, leading to contamination, which eventually may result in diseases outbreak.
Fish processors are seen rushing to make sales amidst moving vehicles. Sometimes, any mechanical failure or a drunk driver could easily run into a host of fish processors along the stretch of the Winneba road, who tirelessly try to make a living from the trade.
"We are daily at risk to road crash from bad drivers who sometimes may be driving under the influence of alcohol, or when the vehicle accidentally develops a mechanical failure," says Stella Quartey, a fish processor, at a forum in Winneba.
Another fish processor, Fl
orence Nartey, says on many occasions drivers wrongfully park their vehicles at places where their fish produce are kept, causing destruction and eventually economic loss to them, who heavily depend on it, to pay for children's educational expenses.
The Effutu Municipal Chief Executive, Fr
ancis Tagoe, said the allocated land demarcated for the construction of the fish market has generated a dispute involving another party who is claiming ownership of the land.
However, he indicated that the matter will soon be resolved to ensure the fisher folks have a decent place to engage in their business.
Mr Tagoe promised to ensure that any committee that may be formed within the assembly will include a representative from the group to move the agenda of women and fisheries.
The forum was organised by Development Action Association (DAA), a farmer based organisation, as a follow up on the World Rural Women’s Day held at Winneba last year to interact with the municipal chief executive about challenges and concerns of fish processors in the fisheries sector.
Lydia Sasu, the Executive Director of the DAA says some fish species are hard to come by during fishing due to sand wining and gravel extraction prevalent along the coast, where fishing is predominant.
“It is therefore crucial to educate fisher folks on bad practices along fishing coasts to promote sustainable fishing for their livelihood,’’ she noted.
According to her, the forum will be a yearly affair with the Effutu municipal assembly to discuss important concerns confronting women engaged in fishing activities.
The DAA is a partner organisation to United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Ghana Sustainable Fisheries Management Project (SFMP), which aims to support Ghana’s national fisheries policies to rebuild marine fish stocks that are important to food security in Ghana as well as the West African region.
USAID/Ghana SFMP is working closely with the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development and Fisheries Commission (MOFAD/FC) to ensure that tens of thousands of metric tons of fish which have been lost over the last two decades are recouped to reduce poverty and hunger as well as sustain the livelihoods of about 170,000 fishers including women fish processors and about 2.2 million indirect jobs.
