Productive, reproductive and community activities shall be described in this section.
The communities around Lake Mweru have a diverse economy dominated by commercial fishing activities. People are accustomed to operating within a cash economy. Sources of income are fishing, processing, training/bordertrade, piecework, farming, beer brewing, crafts, services to traders/fishermen, livestock.
Since fishing commands a lucrative market, it has become the most important and attractive activity in the area. Both demersal fishing (of the popular bream Oreochromis macrochir and pelagic fishing (Chisense) are practised. Many people take part in fishing -- it is mainly a commercial activity. Men fish with boats and nets.2
In the northern part of the lake, the chisense fishery is dominant. As described earlier, both “abeni” and aba-kaya are active in the fishery. Fishing with gillnets is done mainly by the aba-kaya.
Around Kafulwe along the west coast the fishery is dominated by a combination of demersal and chisense fishery. Gillnet fishing is the main activity in Kafulwe, while migrating fishermen (with some Kafulwe residents) take part in the Chisense fishery, which is carried out mainly in Kansungwa.
Individuals or companies engaged in fishing can switch from the chisense to the gillnet fishery and back, pause for a few years and start again. The activity depends on the season, the returns, other interests in the area, etc. In the sections below, fishing activities are described. Some additional information can be found in Annex 5.
* Chisense fishery
The Chisense fishery began to assume commercial significance during the early 1980s - following promotion and technical assistance. It expanded rapidly and it takes place the whole year moving from north to south and back (map 4). Chisense fishermen go out at sunset and return home when the sun rises. When the moon is full or the weather is rough, the chisense fishermen stay ashore. Fishermen perceive a general decline in catch rates.
- Methods
Chisense fishing involves either two boats and seven workers (boat seine) or one boat and three workers (outrigger). The fish is attracted by pressure lights. “Mosquito” type nets with very small mesh sizes are used. The nets are usually purchased from Zaire.
Processing
After landing, most of the live weight Chisense catch is sun-dried on the beach and packed the same afternoon in sacks by the crew themselves. During the peak season this can result in competition for drying space. Only a small portion (2–3 kg) is kept for home consumption and is distributed to the several dependents (wife/wives, sister, parents, uncle). Sometimes concrete slabs are used by traders. The slabs in Kafulwe and Kasembe were used only by traders who managed to buy fresh Chisense straight after landing, and the wives who had been given a bowl for home consumption. For the fishermen it is much easier to spread the chisense on the beach after landing in the morning there and then without having to turn the fish. Chisense is also dried on slabs in Nchelenge and Kashitishi, where the beaches cannot be used extensively for drying chisense. Typically, the majority of the chisense is dried by women. Drying Chisense in the rainy season causes a problem: it takes longer and loses quality (different colour); this decreases the price and increases post-harvest losses.
Marketing
Most of the Chisense catch is sold to traders and most of it ends up outside the Province, in Zaire and the Copperbelt. Barter is very uncommon when it concerns chisense. Both in Kafulwe/Kansungwa and Kasembe this trade was predominantly in the hands of “abeni”, many of whom are women. According to estimates 50% of the chisense trade in Kafulwe was in the hands of women. In Kasembe the estimate was 75%. For women Copperbelt is the main destination, for men it is Zaire. Most of the men are Zaireans. The fact that 75% (Kafulwe) to 90% (Kasembe) of the chisense catch ends up in Zaire would mean that the women traders work on a much smaller scale than Zairean men.
* Demersal fishery
The demersal fishery is practised throughout the year except when the lake is closed because of the fish ban (December-March). The new government declared the lake open this year (1991–92), in spite of the advice of the Department of Fisheries. During the cold season (June/July) catches are low and the fishermen less active. The peak fishing season is during the hottest weather in September, October and November, and therefore coincides with the agricultural labour peak (land preparation, planting, weeding).
- Methods
The demersal fishery is practised in several ways. The most common is gillnet fishing, whereby stationary gillnets are set overnight and harvested the next morning. In every boat there are three men. Fishermen go on the lake at 3 a.m. and return around 3 p.m. These long hours give them the nickname “aba-mulyalimo” - “those who eat only once”.
Other methods include the inshore method of “kutumpula” and beach seine, both illegal. The beach seine has been used a lot in research.
A new trend in the Kafulwe gillnet fishery is the use of big vessels on which a crew can stay for long periods and guard the nets. Net owners can rent a place on the vessel. The crew can clean and salt fish on the boat, or the owner of the nets can come to collect catches daily. In Kafulwe there are at least three big vessels owned by prominent fishermen and businessmen. The motivation for this new trend is the increase in theft of stationary gillnets left unguarded overnight. This problem was really serious. A respondent had 80 nets stolen. She replaced them, and they were stolen again. This is not uncommon. The thieves are difficult to identify. Fishermen suspected people with boats and engines from Kashikishi/Nchelenge or Zaire to be the main culprits, while local “loafers” and people desperate to replace their stolen nets would do the rest.
- Fish catches
Catches per net per night in demersal fishery have been falling tremendously over the past few decades. Figures from the Department of Fisheries indicate that the gillnet catch has fallen from 10–15 kg per effort in the 1970s to 2–4 kg per effort at present. This was confirmed by all respondents who are sincerely worried about the drastic decline. Fishermen complain that on top of the general trend of decreasing catches, the lake had not been closed during the 1990/91 season. Earlier, they used to enjoy good catches at least after the lake re-opened in March; now, they suffer from low catches throughout the year. All the fishermen want the lake closed, and all of them say they need a higher authority to take that step: “You don't stay ashore when your neighbours are going out”.
The main reason for this decrease in catches, according to fishermen in both Kasembe and Kafulwe, is high fishing effort and the use of illegal fishing methods (beach seine, small mesh sizes). In Kafulwe/Kasungwa three other reasons were given: fishing in breeding areas; not enough rainfall - no flooding of the swamp near Kansungwa where fish can breed; big Zairean vessels in Zambian waters.
The respondents were also asked to suggest measures that could prevent a further decrease in catches per effort. Again the suggestions were quite homogenous: reintroduction of the fish ban during December-March and in the fish reserve areas; more control and strict prosecution and punishment of those using illegal methods; banning small mesh-sized nets and making available proper netting material; control of Zairean fishermen; “forcing” newcomers into farming. In addition, fish scouts of the Department of Fisheries suggested diversification of fishing operations (e.g. exploitation of smaller fish types like misebele instead of breams); and strengthening education on conservation, by involving community leaders. This was tried by the Department of Fisheries in 1990 through workshops and initiation of conservation committees.
According to estimates, the post-harvest loss was approximately 15% in 1990. Main contributor to the loss was fish rotting in the nets on account of gillnet setting. (Agri, 35). Fishermen in the research areas claimed that losses resulted when so much fish was caught that it could neither be processed by themselves nor sold to traders. In such cases, fishermen would bury their catch in the sand. That used to be the case after the lake had been closed for the fish ban.
This year there was no closure, catches were not plentiful, and traders needed to wait longer periods to get enough fish to make their trips viable and compete in the purchase of fish. In Kafulwe a small-scale trader was complaining that the presence of ice truck operators made it even more difficult: they did everything to fill up their trucks fast while fishermen did not adhere to their agreements with this trader.
Processors permanently staying in the villages opt to have their own nets and boats in order to secure access to fish.
- Processing and Marketing
Part of the catch is kept for home consumption or for “home processing”. Most of the catch is sold fresh on landing to traders who market the fish in several forms — fresh, dried and smoked — and transport it out of the area, mostly out of the Province. This is very unfortunate, because considerable unsatisfied demand exists in other parts of the Province. According to traders and fishermen, there is not enough money in inter-regional trade: it is much easier to jump into a bus and make some money in Copperbelt/Zaire. Men and women from outlying areas use bicycles or walk to the lake to purchase fish or barter against agricultural produce. People from as far as Lambwa Chomba come to Kasembe to get fish. There is regular traffic between Mununga and Kafulwe; women come with food (roasted groundnuts and cassava, fruit, etc.) for barter with fish which is then taken to Mununga market for sale. But the amounts purchased by these traders are negligible.
The dominant methods of processing demersal fish have changed over time: from the 1950s to 1970s, fresh fish trade was dominant in the southern part of the lake because of the Kashikishi ice plant. Up north, smoke-drying and smoking of fish have always been more prominent.
- Fresh fish
The male-dominated fresh fish trade has declined since the ice plant stopped during the mid-'80s. Fewer and fewer traders are coming to buy. Fresh fish is still bought -- by male traders from the Copperbelt carrying ice blocks in insulated boxed on their vans -- but on a very small scale and not north of Kafulwe. The ice factory in Kashikishi was about to open at the time of research; this will probably reactivate the fresh fish trade.
- Processed fish
Fish can be sun-dried, smoked and salted-dried. In Kasembe the major part of the fish was smoked and a part was salted. In Kafulwe and south of Kafulwe, the majority of the fish is now being salted. Several factors contribute to the shift to salted fish
decrease of traders that come to buy fresh fish;
shortage of firewood for smoking;
salting is cheaper and saves time;
for salted fish you can get a good price in Zaire;
fish can be salted while on the lake (in vessels).
It was estimated that the majority of the processors in Kafulwe are men (60–75%), while in Kasembe a small majority would be women. A majority of the traders in processed fish in both areas would be women; and as in the chisense trade, the majority of traders going to Zaire would be men. The smoked fish was meant mainly for the Copperbelt. Both aba-kaya and abeni are involved.
Agricultural activities are common in the area. Most households, except for the migrating fishermen and traders, farm for subsistence.
Farming is done mainly by women. During the initial land preparation (May, June, November), women are often assisted by men; but in a large proportion of households; women do the land preparation, traditionally considered to be a man's job, themselves. Women are involved in all stages, especially in households where there is no male (temporary or permanent) and especially on their own fields (e.g cassava, beans). In households where fishing is an important activity, women take over more of the agricultural work. Many households also sell/barter part of their produce locally to fishermen and traders. Very few households concentrate completely on farming -- except women alone, some older people and a few “agriculture minded” people. Lima cropping and exotic vegetable production are in many cases male-dominated.
Fishermen concentrate more on farming when they grow older and lose their strength. They leave the actual fishing in the hands of workers/sons.3 Farming is seen as less paying but more secure than fishing. And since catches have been falling and nets are getting stolen more people are switching to farming: “Earlier, the fish could cater to all my needs, now I must farm in order to cut costs”.4
3 Abeni start farming when they have decided to settle and managed to acquire some land
4 It is not clear whether this shift is a permanent one.
- Crop production
The most important crop in the Lake Mweru area is the cassava which is grown by 100% of the permanent households and of which 21 varieties are identified (Thuvesson, 5). It is grown using different intercropping and crop rotation patterns both on mounds and on citemene fields. In Kafulwe people usually shift after five years but some have to stay on the same plot for a longer period because they have nowhere to go. This caused a decrease in the cassava yields because of land exhaustion. Other crops grown: groundnuts, beans, sweet potatoes, maize, pumpkins, bambara nuts, millet, squash, cow peas, sugar, rice and vegetables. In Kafulwe vegetable production had gone up during the last three seasons because more men seem to have taken up the activity in view of the theft of nets, forcing people to diversify. Fruit trees (banana, mango, citrus, guava, paw paw, jack fruit, oil palm) are grown besides livestock, chicken and ducks.
The major constraints to crop production in both Kasembe and Kafulwe are land degradation and deforestation. This is obviously caused by the pressure on land near settlements. Other constraints are rodents and termites, shortage of inputs (especially groundnut and bean seeds and vegetable seeds) and lack of extension services for those who do not grow maize, sunflower or soyabeans.
- Marketing
The local market for agricultural produce, such as vegetables, is very limited. In Kafulwe the few vegetable growers sold a small part at the local market but tomatoes and leafy vegetables were sold mostly to traders coming from Nchelenge or even Mansa boma. According to present vegetable growers they cannot expand their production too much because of the limited market. Surplus beans, groundnuts, cassava and maize are sometimes bought by Zaireans who transport them to Zaire via water. Maize is sold in small quantities to beer brewers, groundnuts are sometimes sold as seeds to others.
The dominant cash crop marketed is the staple crop, cassava, little of which is marketed formally; most of it is sold or bartered, locally. The group of fishermen and traders staying in temporary fishing camps are the ones in need of cassava flour for their daily meal: it is sold to them by local women.
Women take part in this trade in several ways. Some participate in the whole process, from crop-growing to pounding the cassava. Some others grow the crop and sell it before processing. Yet some others grow, soak and dry cassava and sell it to others who pound it.
* Trade
Fish traders visit Kasembe or Kafulwe/Kansungwa to collect and process enough fish to make the trip lucrative. They often rent a house in the village or along the beach; some of them even own houses at the beach. The number of trips made can vary from a few per year to five trips per month — depending on the availability of fish. If the trader can afford, it he/she will wait until the market price is right. The bags or bundles are then transported by boat, bus or truck to their various destinations. Transport payments are made per bag/bundle and the trader accompanies the load except when trucks are used. They often sell the fish to retailers. The small-scale traders -- carrying for example only five bags -- are more inclined to sell the fish in small quantities themselves.
The price of the larger types of fish is set by the fishermen and is more or less the same along the lake and reasonably stable. The chisense prices fluctuate much more, and are influenced by availability. Thus when there is a full moon or when it is a dull season the chisense fetch higher prices. Zambian chisense traders in Kasembe were complaining that Zairean traders inflated prices because they could always afford to pay more.
Most traders do not return empty-handed. Some aba-salushi return with essential commodities like paraffin, cooking oil, sugar, flour, empty bags (for packing chisense), etc. and do not leave before these are sold. Sometimes orders are placed by fishermen or residents of the villages for fishing gear or other items which are then paid for with fish.
Part of this marketed produce, including agricultural produce and essential commodities like cooking oil and sugar, ends up in Zaire. Some commodities come from Zaire: e.g. second-hand clothes, electronic equipment, soap and beer, but also fishing nets, thread to mend nets and fishing lamps. The trade with Zaire is quite dominant in the area. As in many fishing camps, communications with Zaire are easier than with Zambian markets. Improvement of communications with Zambian markets would possibly increase the amount of fish taken there. The traffic of Zambian trucks and buses to and from the Copperbelt has increased since the road up north was improved.
* supply of services
The presence of specialized fisherman and traders makes the suply of services vital, ranking next to trade as an important activity. The following services were identified:
Carpentry (3 in Kasembe, 7 in Kafulwe). Apart from constructing doors and window frames, carpenters are busy maintaining and building plank boats. Most of the experienced carpenters are based along the east coast of the lake. When Kasembe fishermen wanted a boat built, they would invite a carpenter from there to build one. The three men who repair boats in Kasembe are fishermen who own tools, know carpentry and carry out carpentry jobs as well as fishing. Many fishermen are able to do repair jobs themselves.
Houses rented by traders/temporary fishermen are often provided by aba-kaya. They either build houses for rent (sometimes per room) for the abeni or offer their assistance for building construction. (Rent varies from 200–500 kwacha per month in Kasembe).
Beer is sold from private houses. Women make it from local maize or/and finger millet whenever they are in need of money. It is all sold. According to interviewees, a hefty chunk of the money made by fishermen is spent on beer.
Cassava is sold in several forms by women to meet the needs of temporary residents.
Piecework. In fisheries, wage labour is prominent (for fishing, processing, building construction etc). In farming, some men hire labour to clear land or to assist in the lima-crops. Women sometimes hire labour to pound maize, to dig cassava, to weed, etc. in exchange for essential commodities. The workers may be aba-kaya or abeni, also from Zaire.
Charcoal burning. Both for own use and for sale. The majority of the charcoal burners in this area are women. Sometimes they go to the forest as a group but burn individually (Kasembe); sometimes (Kafulwe) women and the youngest children go and stay in the forest for a longer period to burn a large amount. This charcoal is then transported to Kafulwe by a truck rented from local businessmen.
Firewood sales. Women cut firewood and sell it to fish processors or use it for fish processing.
Shops. Kasembe and Kafulwe have four well-stocked shops which display goods from both Zambia and Zaire. None of the shop-owners are aba-kaya. All of them come from outside the area (Copperbelt, Zaire) and own their own trucks.
Pit sawyers. All carpenters and fishermen are provided with planks by pit sawyers staying in the backland forest.
Transport. Trucks are contracted by traders or go up and down and charge per bag/bundle. Owners or contractors are usually based in the Copperbelt. Boats ferry people for a fee.
Prostitution. No details but it clearly exists.
Buns. Baked by men and women and sold on the local markets in both research areas.
Women are responsible for household chores: care of the children and the sick; collection, processing and preparation of food; fetching water and firewood; or organizing charcoal. Children help in household chores such as fetching water. Gathering firewood and preparing charcoal are very time-consuming chores. Women have to go further and further to collect firewood, and the charcoal burning process is long and tiresome. In Kasembe, access to clean water is especially a problem in the hot dry season which coincides with the peak chisense fishing season. People have to queue up to obtain water from the only shallow well available during that period. Men are responsible for maintenance of the house and equipment. Women brew beer. Household chores seem to take up a great deal of time and energy, and limit women's capacity to undertake more productive work.
Both men and women participate in church meetings and community services, and meet social obligations. The church stimulates several community activities. Some of them further charity. Others raise funds for the church. Very little information is available about time spent on these activities by either men and women, but it is often quite substantial. The type of activities varies with the links people have established with the area. Aba-kaya and settled abeni concern themselves with churches, village meetings, etc. Newer abeni are more active with the fishermen's association and with political meetings.
