Assessment of Informal Cross-Border Fish Trade in the Southern Africa Region: A Case of Malawi and Zambia

Abstract

Intra-regional fish trade has potential in addressing the region's food and nutrition insecurity, as well as poverty reduction, by enabling movement of fish from countries of surplus to those with deficit. However, informal fish trade, just like all informal economic activities, has been overlooked and neglected in many national and regional policies, leading to obscurity of such an important part of the fisheries sector. This study examined the situation in the cross-border informal fish trade in order to deepen our understanding about the traders, the factors influencing the traders to use informal trade channels, the structure of the products traded and the challenges traders face, as well as propose policy direction to enhance the cross-border fish trade in the Southern Africa region. The study revealed that female traders dominated informal fish trade. In both Malawi and Zambia, an estimated 45,285.52 metric tonnes of fish valued at 82.14 million dollars and 102,263.9 metric tonnes of fish valued at 3.3 million dollars were informally traded. The key species involved in informal cross-border trade in Malawi and Zambia were the small pelagics, usipa (Engraulicypris sardella) from Lake Malawi and dagaa (Rastrineobola argentea) from Lake Tanganyika, respectively. It emerged from focus group discussions with informal fish traders and key informants' interviews with border post fish inspection and revenue collection officials that traders are put off by the cross-border regulations. Therefore, it is important for countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region to regularize and formalize cross-border trade, particularly in small pelagic fish species, since this species plays a great role in the livelihoods, food and nutrition security of many people in the region, especially the rural and urban poor. It is also important for governments to support processors and traders to improve the quality of fish being traded, and decentralize issuing of the import/export certificates and other cross-border support documents. Lastly, there is a need to establish informal fish trade monitoring systems to adequately quantify the volumes traded.

The Role of Aquaculture and Capture Fisheries in Meeting Food and Nutrition Security: Testing a Nutrition-Sensitive Pond Polyculture Intervention in Rural Zambia

“…While the data in our study show a decline in the quantity and number of fish species from December onward, the MP group managed to shift their consumption of fish to dried pelagic species from other freshwater capture fisheries outside of Zambia, which were unaffected by the national fishing ban. Much of this fish is sourced from Malawi or Tanzania [54]. Such fish trade corridors along main roads allowed the MP group to access these fish species and, thus, maintain a higher intake of key micronutrients and omega-3 fatty acids.…”

A framework to guide research engagement in the policy process, with application to small-scale fisheries

“…The research illuminated substantially greater volumes of fish and employment (i.e., compared to FAO statistics and national accounts) associated with cross-border trade, evaluated the impacts of existing policies, and exposed policy myth about the perceived (low) value of the sector and its importance to national and regional economies. The research also showed how informal participants in the sector, particularly women traders, were losing out because of the lack of visibility, regulation, and proper infrastructure (Ayilu et al 2016, Mussa et al 2017. Ultimately, the way in which the research was conducted and reported (i.e., by and to national and regional actors) helped set the agenda for multi-stakeholder dialogue on future policy priorities.…”