Many Africans prefer fresh fish when it is available. Availability of fish, food habits of the local people, and socio-economic factors influence the demand for fishery products. A large quantity of fresh fish is consumed in the urban areas, fish landing centres and villages close to these centres. Many urban consumers can afford to buy the higher priced fresh fish and the privileged villagers in fishing centres or close by get the fresh fish almost for nothing.
Among consumers, the choice of bonga products depends on availability, price, taste preference, and purchasing power. The urban dwellers attract a lot of fresh bonga that is used in cooking stews and fried fish specialities. Some boil the fresh bonga and use it as a side dish for some cereal-based recipes. The distant consumers buy the roasted and dried, salted anddried, or smoked and dried bonga. Whole pieces are used in various West African recipes and the powdery form is added to soups and stews according to local food habits and the quantity available to a household. The willingness to pay for good quality fresh bonga has now increased the sale of iced bonga in Senegal, The Gambia and Guinea. An increase in ice plants and coldrooms at fishing sites will further increase the consumption of fresh bonga in the sub-region
Figure 3 Iced bonga in a chill room in Bakau (The Gambia)
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Figure 4 Fresh bonga women traders icing bonga in cardboard and plastic insulated baskets
Figure 5 Insulated boxes for storage of iced bonga in Kamsar (Guinea)
There is an important fresh bonga market in Senegal, The Gambia and Guinea. The Gambian fish traders buy the fresh bonga from the canoe fishermen at the coastal fishing centres and transport it to the markets mainly by bicycles and pick-up trucks. A few insulated vans have now been introduced in the market. The increase in distance coverage and the availability of insulated vans have now increased the need for ice. Traders who have access to ice can distribute better quality products and do get good economic returns.
Bonga has become so important in the urban diet in The Gambia that some fish traders are using ice and a chill room at Bakau to preserve fresh bonga, that is landed late, for the daily morning markets in the heavily populated towns of Bakau and Serrekunda. The demand for fresh bonga in these major markets is so high that the traders can afford the costs of storage in the coldroom since they recover these costs. This practice, which began in July 1993, is now on the increase.
Also in Senegal, traders supply iced sardinella and bonga to the fish wholesale market in the capital, Dakar, and to other major towns. The fish is bought from fishermen along the Petite Côte and is iced and transported in insulated trucks. Iced bonga costs about FCFA 65/kg (US$ 0.32/kg) at the Dakar wholesale market. As a comparison, the more popular round sardinella (S. aurita), also iced, costs about 23 percent more at FCFA 80/kg (US$ 0.39/kg).
In Kamsar (Guinea), the women fish traders preserve bonga in ice, in cardboard boxes and basket. The preserved "fresh" bonga is then either sold in Kamsar, where the bauxite company employees have a relatively high purchasing power, or transported to Boké (53 km from Kamsar) or Sangeredi (133 km from Kamsar) where the demand for the product and consumer purchasing power are also high. The populations in these centres also prefer cooking fresh bonga.
The tide pattern around Kamsar influences the late landing time of the bonga canoes - between 7 pm and 8 pm. This compels the fresh bonga merchants to ice their bonga consignments until the next day, when they can reach the markets in good time and fetch better prices. The FAO fisheries project in Kamsar has realized the increase in the demand for iced bonga and has responded by constructing a few insulated boxes that are rented out. The rent collected, as for other facilities provided by the project, is saved for the repair and maintenance of the facilities.
The trade in iced bonga at Kamsar increased from 2.5 t in June 1993 to 5.6 t in August 1993 - more than a 100 percent increase. The total recorded between June and September 1993 is about 16 t.
