Author(s): Kwibe Assani Dialloh, Safari Rukahusa Ruffin, Amisi Manala Christian and Guy Ruhamya Aganze

Abstract: This study focuses on a preliminary survey of the provenance and analysis of the distribution channels for commercially interesting fish from Lake Tanganyika processed and sold at the maendeleo market in Uvira, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The information was collected between January and August 2021 from fishermen or traders selling and buying fish products. Field visits were made on market working days, i.e. every Monday and Thursday of the week. The survey questionnaire included the following elements: Distribution of respondents according to gender, marital status, level of education, choice of types of fish marketed and quality of processed fish, places of origin and destination of fish products and number of packages (bags, cartons, baskets). The results of this study show that women are much more involved in the fish trade at the Maendeleo market (60%) than men (40%). We note that 53% of our respondents are illiterate, and they are more dominated by married people (82.86%) than single people (17.14%). The majority of processing and retail traders and semi-retailers interviewed prefer to sell Stolothrissa tanganicae (Ndagaa or Ndagala) (56.85%) than other species, and dried fish is the best quality preferred by sellers (58.87%). Merchant sellers accounted for 86.6%, compared with fishermen sellers (10.4%). A good number of vendors come from the Congolese coast of Lake Tanganyika south of the town of Uvira and Baraka-Fizi (87.56%). Most of the fish products sold in the Maendeleo market come from Tanganyika province (48.49%) and from the town of Uvira and Baraka-Fizi in South Kivu province (41.21%). The largest quantity of fish products sold in this market is destined for the city of Bukavu (55.41%). The Welch F Test calculated shows that there is no significant difference between the number of packages sold in this market by month (Sum of sqrs: 1932.57; df: 6; Mean square: 322.095; F: 0.06872; p(same): 0.9983).

DOI: 10.22271/fish.2024.v12.i5a.2966

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