7 July 2021, Abidjan – Staged under the theme: “Rebuilding better together” this year’s International Day of Cooperatives saw the CFI host a workshop in Attécoubé on 3 July to discuss best practises in hygiene including the health and safety standards required for products to be sold on markets.

Thirty-four people attended the workshop including twenty women, many of them members of cooperative groups producing and processing fish products. The goal of the gathering was to raise awareness of fishery value chains and produce across the region. Meeting at the Locodjro harbour quay participants traded techniques on good hygiene in fish processing operations as well as the appropriate standards to gain access to remunerative markets.

Delivering on the CFI’s objective of providing sustainable environmental and socio-economic benefits in West Africa through good governance, correct incentives and innovation was a key component of the event. The Initiative is implemented by FAO and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) through the Abidjan Convention with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Participants at a workshop in Locodjro, Abidjan @FAO-Côte d’Ivoire/Manuel Zako

Improving the quality of fishery products, a major priority

“This workshop to build the capacities of stakeholders not only demonstrates the good relations that exist between the MIRAH and FAO, but also the close collaboration between the Coastal Fisheries Initiative (West Africa) and the coordination of the Locodjro harbour quay,” said Bakayoko Ibrahima, Inspector General of the Ministry of Animal and Fishery Resources (MIRAH) of Côte d'Ivoire.

Bakayoko stressed that: “this training session provides key players in the tuna sector with the knowledge necessary to improve the quality of tuna products and their access to profitable markets.”

"The Minister of Animal and Fishery Resources, Sidi Tiémoko Touré, attaches particular importance to improving the quality of fishery products by ensuring that Locodjro has adequate infrastructure facilitating the adoption of good hygiene during the processing of fishery products, sanitary control and the appropriate standards of access to remunerative markets,” he added.

Koné Aboubakar, National Administrator of the CFI in Côte d'Ivoire highlighted the importance for all groups working across the tuna value chain to have skills to implement good hygiene practices both in production and processing: "Improving the quality of fishing products requires above all, increasing the knowledge of artisanal fishing stakeholders, women and men, both in terms of applicable sanitary monitoring methods for Locodjro to meet safe food handling standards,” he said.

Cooperative groups aim to guarantee good hygiene and safety

This workshop was an opportunity to showcase the work of female members of cooperatives, in improving value chains in artisanal fisheries.

Anne H. Dago from the Cooperative of Fishmongers and Transformers of Fishery Products of Côte d'Ivoire – known locally as: “COMATPH-CI” – stressed the importance of the day and praised the technical support provided by FAO to cooperatives specializing in improved tuna smoking.

“The celebration of the International Day of Cooperatives is very important to us. It is the only day that honours the work of cooperatives, especially those working in artisanal fishing. We thank the FAO and the Ministry of Animal and Fishery Resources for their ongoing support to women processors of fishery products in Locodjro," said Dago.

The CFI supports around 1 036 workers in Côte d'Ivoire living from fishery products, including 821 women processors and 215 men grouped together in four cooperatives in Locodjro, in improving the practice of fish smoking of tuna in the oven using the FAO Thiaroye Transformation (FTT) technique.

This practice helps to: i) protect women's health by avoiding exposure to heat and smoke; ii) provide healthy and safe products; iii) preserve the environment by reducing the consumption of wood and charcoal; iv) contribute to the sustainable development of coastal artisanal fishing by reducing post-capture losses of fishery products.