Tanzania’s sardines attract markets in developed world

Dar es Salaam. Dried sardines, known in Kiswahili as dagaa from Tanzania’s fresh water bodies, have begun penetrating the Australian and Canadian markets to boost fish exports in the country.

Tanzania’s exports of fish and fish products rose by 49.4 per cent in 2014 to reach $195 million from $130.6 million, according to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) figures.

Government officials believe the increase might have been aided, in part, by the sardines which have now found new markets in developed countries.

“It is interesting that you can now find our sardines in countries like Canada and Australia….what used to be food for locals can now be exported and earn us foreign currency,” the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development, Dr Yohana Budeba, said in Dar es Salaam last week during the SmartFish Awards – a new EU-supported initiative that seeks to spearhead innovations and creativity in the country’s fishing industry.

Without giving exact data on sardine exports, he said the ministry was still at the stage of promoting more local dealers to access overseas markets. “In the past sardines were mainly sold for feeding animals and the poor, but now various products of sardines are penetrating various markets,” he said, calling upon local fishermen to observe environmental protection guidelines.

They should avoid illegal fishing and protecting fish breeding areas in the lakes. He has promised to improve the SmartFish programme, which, apart from the EU, is also supported by the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) in order to improve local fishing technology.

Apart from exporting sardines to Australia and Canada, dried smoked sardines from Lake Tanganyika, Lake Victoria and Lake Nyasa are exported to neighbouring countries of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi and Rwanda, according to a report from the Ministry of Livestock Development and Fisheries.