Traders will now track fish prices on mobile phones . Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (Kemfri) has launched a mobile phone technology to improve fish trade in Turkana County. The new technology gives traders market information. Electronic Fish Market Information System (EFMIS-Ke) co-ordinator William Ojwangâ said this would help fish traders locally and internationally to determine market prices. Dr Ojwangâ™ said fishermen and traders would be able to know prices countrywide using their mobile phones on a daily basis. He added that the mobile technology would eliminate middlemen who have been exploiting fishermen. "We have tested the new technology and it really works well for fishermen and traders.
We will be using information from the mobile phones to improve the trade in the sector," he said. Ojwang’ said they are training Turkana beach management units (BMUs) on how to use mobile phones to relay information on prices and data to Kemfri station in Kisumu.
The BMUs have been given handsets that would enable them send data to EFMIS-Ke station along the shores of Lake Turkana. Ojwangâ€disclosed that EFMIS-Ke service is also in the final stages of developing information package that would target various stakeholders in the fish industry. The coordinator said the readily available package that covers Lake Victoria is already in operation.
Information The European Union through the Micro Enterprises Support Programme Trust has supported the pilot project to a tune of Sh18 million to cover all lakes. Research conducted in Lake Turkana showed that the annual fish production capacity was 25,000 metric tonnes valued at Sh2.5 billion. According to Kemfri and the Fisheries Department, about Sh50 million is lost annually due to post harvest loses in the lake.(Info courtesy of www.standardmedia.co.ke)
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