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(Cameroon,
Central African Republic, Chad, Niger and Nigeria)
The
inland fisheries of the Lake Chad basin are among the most productive in
Africa. Approximately 100,000 tons of fish are landed there every year.
These fisheries are the main economic activity for thousands of people
in Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic (CAR), Niger and
Nigeria.
The
direct participants are the communities around the Lake Chad basin who
work in both farming and fisheries, and those involved in secondary
activities such as processing, marketing, transporting and sales.
Indirect participants include the decision-makers and consumers,
particularly in the urban areas.
Over
the last 30 years, the main factor in the expansion and development of
fisheries around Lake Chad is the growing demand for fish, particularly
in the urban areas of Nigeria. All the fisheries on Lake Chad are
strongly focussed on trade and a well-organised fish marketing system
links the widespread small fisheries to the large, and often distant,
markets.
However,
although research has been conducted towards a preliminary analysis of
the fish marketing system, the way in which this system operates is
still not properly understood, nor is its impact on the livelihoods of
those involved. This is an important aspect since, for governments need
to have a proper understanding of the effects of the market on the
livelihoods of the fisheries communities of the region in order to draw
up equitable policies to promote improved livelihoods for the various
actors in the sector.
Study
objectives
The
objective of this 12-month study is to develop a better understanding of
the role of fish marketing in the livelihoods of the fisheries
communities in each of the countries of the Lake Chad Basin. It is hoped
that decision makers in each region will use this information to guide
policy and identify possible development interventions to improve the
livelihoods of the various actors in the sector.
The
way in which the fish marketing network functions in each country and
the relations between different groups of actors with respect to their
economic and social interests must be understood in order to draft
policies which take the various stakeholder interests into account. It
will also be necessary to identify options1
for drafting new development policy documents for government, in order
to help promote fish marketing and the livelihoods reliant on it.
The
study will also look at the activities conducted and the collaborative
network set up under the European Union Lake Chad Basin Research
Project, which ended in October 2001. The initiative for this study,
which was funded by the SFLP, came from the direct expression of
interest by researchers and development workers concerned with improving
the drafting and implementation of public policy for the Lake Chad
Basin, a region of rich and varied fisheries resources but also of great
poverty.·
1
In particular, the institutional instruments, collaboration between
the stakeholders, and technical interventions.
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