Women's role in fishing communities: the case of Benin
by Elisabeth Zanou
Nutritionist/Biologist
Introduction
Considering their number, women represent a significant labour force in the Benin economy development. In the Ayiguinnou and Aguégués fishing communities, they are engaged in the operations of fisheries products storage, processing and marketing. Unfortunately, tradition has pushed this role into the background for a long time.
Even if, these past years, authorities are showing more and more concern about women's role in fisheries, the facilities granted to women are still too trivial to favour a real emancipation. It is not surprising then that the Programme for Integrated Development of Artisanal Fisheries (IDAF) considers the improvement of the situation in the sector as a primary objective.
Macro economic aspects
With a 120 km coastline and a relatively dense river network, Benin has an important fisheries potential especially in the South where it represents the major activity of about 50,000 people. There are two types of fishing: marine and continental.
* Concerning continental fishing, lagoons provide more fishery products and employ more
people than river fishing. The activities last all the year with a- peak from April to July and
January to February.
* Marine fishing is both industrial and artisanal.
* After a significant downfall in the 80's, industrial fishing is taking up again: it reached 817t in 1994.
* Artisanal marine fishing is more flourishing from May to August. It is the one which involves more women. The production was 5,800t in 1993. The most used means of production are Ghanaian or Nigerian made dug out canoes. The main fishing gears are purse seine, beach seine, gillnet, line, acadja, landing net, castnet, trawl, hoop net and longline.
In the Ayiguinnou and Aguégués communities, fishing is women's main activity. Drained away from the South to the North by the river, the Aguégués sous-préfecture stretches from the South to the East on Nokoué lake and Porto-Novo lagoon. This privileged position offers important fishing possibilities to the 22,771 inhabitants distributed over the 3 Aguégués fishing communities namely Houédomé, Zoungamè and Avagbodji. The annual catches provide 941 tons of fresh fish and 229 tons of smoked fish.
Ayiguinnou, the other fishing community is a village of 669 inhabitants located on the coastline, near Grand-Popo. Further to IDAF's experimentation of a fishing model project between 1984 and 1991, several fishing cooperatives are operational, of which a women's group.
Women's activities in the fishing communities
They concern mainly the processing and marketing of fishery products.
Fish is processed by smoking, drying-salting or frying. AU the women in the Aguégués use the traditional oven for smoking. At Ayiguinnou, it's the Chorkor type improved oven which prevails since the establishment of the Model Fishing Project. Salting-drying is very common at Ayiguinnou. The fish is fermented for one or two days, salted and then stocked in baskets until maturation. Then it is washed with sea water and dried until total dehydration. Only 1% of the catches is fried. The fresh fish is washed and guttered, then fried and sold by women as street food.
The fish is marketed fresh or processed. In the Aguegue water region, the fresh fish is transported in baskets constantly watered and conveyed to Porto-Novo, Cotonou and Badagri. The smoked or dried fish is preserved for a few days in ovens and baskets. Together with smoked shrimps, it is marketed in big cities. In Ayiguinnou, the fresh fish is preserved in a cold room, then transported in baskets with pieces of ice to the markets of Come, Grand-Popo, Aného, Lomé, Hillacondji, and Cotonou. Presently, people prefer to use isotherm boxes full of ice. As for smoked fish, retailers buy them in wholesale from women processors and market them in sales areas. Sometimes women processors ensure the marketing themselves.
Because fishing is a seasonal activity, women engage in other activities of less importance especially market gardening, coconut oil manufacturing and even cassava growing.
The income and its use
At Ayiguinnou the income generated by fishing activities varies between 5.000 and 16.500 FCFA a month with a monthly average of 13.000 FCFA. In the Aguégués this income seems a little higher as the monthly average reaches 19,000 CFA. Women, mostly illiterate, spend 50% of their income on family food. The Aguegue women and most women of Ayiguinnou spend the remaining income on their children's health, schooling and savings.
Women's relationships with men in the fishing sector
Women in fishing communities have both dependence and partnership relationships with men. The dependence is obvious when the woman, with limited financial resources, asks the fisherman to buy part of the fish on credit. She is then obliged to accept the price imposed by the fisherman. As for the partnership, it becomes evident when the woman funds in advance the purchase of fishing equipment. In fact, these are complementary relationships.
Difficulties and advantages
Women in the Ayiguinnou and Aguégués fishing communities face different types of difficulties: fresh fish preservation, which is not always an easy task, and the storage of smoked or dried fish. Other concerns are the poor performance of ovens, the lack of capital as well as the difficulties related to transport and a place in the market.
Yet, the Aguégués and Ayiguinnou regions offer advantages for fishing activities: constant fishing possibility, frontier position with Nigeria and Togo which are easy outlets for fishery products, credit possibility through development projects, and off-season production.
Recommendations
Considering the characteristics of fishery related activities, it is necessary to provide the women concerned with a support fund. It is also advisable to supply them with the required equipment for fish preservation and processing; to provide fishermen with appropriate material to fight against the defacing of the coastline; to increase the capacity to maintain boats and fishing gears. Finally, it is necessary to promote secondary activities.
CONCLUSION
Despite the difficulties they meet, women in the Aguégués and Ayiguinnou fishing communities are the heart of the artisanal fishery sector. Because of their contribution to family budget, they are partners men can't get away from. Therefore, they deserve a more constant attention from development organizations such as IDAF Programme.
