Marketing of farmed fish in Uganda: a case study of Nakasongola district.

Abstract

This research focused on the Marketing of farmed fish in Uganda, A case study of Nakasongola District. This research was conducted in seven sub-counties in Nakasongola District namely: Kalungi sub-county, Lwampanga sub-county, Kakooge sub-county, Migeera, Katuugo, Kazwaama and Nakasongola town council. The study aimed at establishing the problems encountered in the marketing of farmed fish, finding out the current marketing channels of farmed fish and establishing different value addition methods on marketed fish in Nakasongola District. A descriptive cross sectional survey was adopted both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. A sample size of 233 respondents was the representative of the study population which was 560 and these were selected using a simple random sampling and a purposive sampling Data on activities such as fish species marketed/sold, fish harvesting technologies used ,fish marketing channels, fish preservation methods, numbers of fish harvested ,value addition methods. Problems encountered in marketing of farmed fish were got from the study area using Questionnaires, Personal observation and Focus group discussion. Findings from the study revealed that the bigger percentage sold their fish to final consumer at their fish farms, most of them did not add value to their fish products as they were selling them fresh both locally and in urban markets and the study also revealed that farmers were greatly affected by preservations methods that’s why they resorted to selling fresh fish, also they faced other problems for example; Market price fractuations, Few buyers of farmed fish, Perishability of fish products as reflected in chapter four. Therefore there should be investment on infrastructural facilities (roads and storage), Fish traders of Nakasongola District should work towards identifying opportunities to create more value added products from fish, traders to be encouraged to buy fish in bulk to sell more in urban markets and also extension officers to disseminate information about existing markets and advanced methods of value addition.