Consumer Preference on Value Added Products of Farmed Fish in Lake Victoria Basin, Tanzania

Asian Journal of Applied Science and Engineering ISSN 2305-915X(p); 2307-9584(e)

Asian Business Consortium | AJASE ● Dec 2014 ● Vol 3 ● Issue 9 Page 28

Consumer Preference on Value Added

Products of Farmed Fish in Lake Victoria

Basin, Tanzania

Salehe, M.A1; Luomba, J.O

1; Musiba, M

1; Mlaponi, E

1; Mghamba, K.J

2

1Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute, Mwanza, Tanzania

2 Fisheries Education and Training Agency, Mwanza, Tanzania

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Volume 3 Number 5/2014 Issue 9 DOI: 10.15590/ajase/

Received: Nov 13, 2014 Accepted: Dec 19, 2014 Revised: Dec 23, 2014 Published: Jan 04, 2015 E-mail for correspondence: [email protected]

This paper articulates the empirical evidence on consumer taste preference and purchase intent of value added products of farmed tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). To meet the study objective, 150 fish consumers in Nyamagana district, Mwanza tasted various fish products including fishballs, samosa, pie and hot-smoked fish. A 3- point Likert scale was used to rank the taste and purchase intent for each product. Percentages and frequency distribution were calculated for descriptive analysis. Kruskal–Wallis test was performed for statistical analysis to find out the significant differences between consumer preference to the taste and willingness to purchase the fish products. Subsequently, Mann-Whitney U test was performed for post hoc tests. Results indicate that, the consumers’ taste preference between African catfish products were significantly different (H (3) = 11.40, p < 0.05) but there was no significant difference on the tilapia products (H (3) = 7.04, p > 0.05). Furthermore, no significant difference was observed on the purchase intent of all products for the two species (H (3) = 4.090, p > 0.05 for tilapia products, and H (3) = 2.953, p > 0.05 for African catfish products). Generally, the consumers accepted the taste of all products, despite the differences exhibited for the African catfish products. Training and promotion of value addition for farmed fish is therefore recommended to improve fish consumption as well as enhancing market performance for the aquaculture industry. Key words: Value addition; farmed fish; taste; purchase intent; Lake Victoria region

Source of Support: ASARECA, Conflict of Interest: Declared.

How to Cite: Salehe M, Luomba J, Musiba M, Mlaponi E and Mghamba K. 2014. Consumer Preference on Value Added Products of Farmed Fish in Lake Victoria Basin, Tanzania Asian Journal of Applied Science and

Engineering, 3, 28-33.

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INTRODUCTION

orldwide, fish is recognized as an excellent source of low-fat protein and thus categorized as food with many health benefits including essential fatty acids, minerals and vitamins (Sidhu, 2003; Mozaffarian and Rimm, 2006; Mohamad et al., 2011; Burger

and Gochfeld, 2009). For decades, capture fisheries are known to be a major supply of fish for human consumption and animal feeds. However, the declining trend of fish from capture fisheries, due to increased demand caused by the human population growth, aquaculture remains the only source of filling the gap (Naylor et al., 2000; FAO, 2012). In East Africa, aquaculture is relatively undeveloped, but it is a potential and can contribute to the improvement of income and food security (FAO, 2012; Shoko et al., 2011, Kaliba et al., 2006). This paper aims at enhancing the utilization of aquaculture productivity, through value addition and market innovations of products for tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). The species were chosen because of their inherited characteristics of environmental tolerance, and superior growth (Bardach et al., 1972; Kaliba et al., 2006). In Lake Victoria region, tilapia is the most preferred fish species by most fish consumers (Abila, 2003; SEDAWOG, 1999). It is worth noting that some fish species are rejected by consumers because of their unattractive shape, color and flavor among others. The African catfish is among the fish species facing the same challenge in the region, but the most preferred in other part of the country especially around the Rift Valley lakes (Katunzi et al, 2010; unpublished data). Value addition for fish is an important strategy that will add economic value and possibly widen the market performance while reducing a problem of post harvest losses in sub-Saharan Africa (Kyule et al., 2014, Mohamad et al., 2011). The popularity of fish products in the diet has increased due to the international recommendation to lower the total level of dietary fat (Akter et al., 2013). The common fish products sold in most of the fish markets in Tanzania include fresh, salted, hot-smoked and fried fish. These fish products are not suitable for other fish species like African catfish. Market innovations through introduction and promotion of other products that are not commonly available in fish markets is also paramount importance for products differentiation between wild and farmed fish in Lake Victoria region, Tanzania. Therefore, various value added products in form of fish balls, fish pie, fish samosa and hot-smoked were evaluated for consumer preference and purchase intent. The paper presents the findings of the survey carried out in Nyamagana district, Mwanza region.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

An assessment of consumer taste preference and purchase intent of value added products of farmed fish was carried out at Nyamagana district in Mwanza city. Four value added products from African catfish and tilapia were processed in form of: balls, samosa, pie and hot-smoked as presented in the table I below. One hundred fifty respondents were sampled to evaluate the products taste during the National Agricultural Exhibition which was held from 1st to 10th August 2013. Information on consumers‟ demography, fish species preference, taste and purchase intent of each product were collected. Purposive sampling was done to target only respondents with no taboo in eating the mentioned fish species. Eight coded products were presented to the participants to evaluate their taste preference and willingness to purchase the products. The respondents were also served with plain water to cleanse their palettes between the products. Questions were designed in a 3-point Likert scale as 1 being Poor, 2= Good, 3= Very Good for the taste evaluation, and 1=Will definitely buy, 2= Might buy, 3= Will definitely not buy, for the purchase intent. IBM SPSS Statistics Version 21 was used to analyze the

W



collected data. Kolmogorov–Smirnova and Shapiro- Wilk (K-S test) and Levene tests were performed to test the normality of the sample distribution and homogeneity of variance. All data analyzed were considered significant at the level of 0.05. For the statistical analysis, Kruskal-Wallis test was performed as it is an appropriate method for ranked data, and testing the differences between several independent groups as described by Field (2009). Since the Kruskal-Wallis test just indicates the existence of significant difference between the groups but does not show where the differences exactly lies, the Mann-Whitney U test was performed for post hoc tests.

Table I: Summary of the methods for preparation of the fish value added products

RESULTS

Table II shows the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents, 54.7% (n =150) were males and 45.3% females, and 74% of the respondents were married. Majority (78%) of the respondents lived in urban areas, and about 51% indicated to be self-employed. Age distribution of many respondents falls between 20-30 (28%) and 30-40 (26%). About 37% of the respondents had attained primary education; while 32% and 31% had attained secondary and tertiary education respectively. Almost 80% of interviewed respondents indicated that tilapia



was their most favorite fish species and only 9% of respondents preferred African catfish (Figure 1). In addition, 60% of respondents stated that, the fried fish is the value added product which is commonly found in the markets, while, 22% of respondents mentioned of the smoked fish. The findings further revealed that, over 60% of value added products of both farmed tilapia and African catfish species were ranked “Very good”. However, the consumers preferred much more the taste of samosa and pie of African catfish which scored over 90% „Very good‟ (Figure 2). The results indicate that, there is a significant difference on consumer taste preference of African catfish products, H (3) = 11.40, p < 0.05; while there is no significant difference for the tilapia products H (3) = 7.04, p > 0.05. The Mann–Whitney test based on the critical value of 0.01 indicated that, the differences were on African catfish pie and hot-smoked products (U=9741.5, r = -0.17), as well as between samosa and hot-smoked (U=9965, r= -0.15). The pie and samosa were made from the same ingredients but differ in the shape of the final products and therefore could be attributed to the depicted difference. The results also indicated that, despite the taste difference in some African catfish products, there was no significant difference in purchase intent of all the products (H (3) = 4.090, p > 0.05 for tilapia products and H (3) = 2.953, p > 0.05 for African catfish products). Table 3 indicates the suggested price by consumers for each product. The average price (1 USD is eguivalent to 1,650 TZS) for each product varies between the two fish species, while the median prices for all products were the same except for the hot-smoked products. The hot-smoked prices were slightly higher compared to other products as influenced by the size of the whole fish.

Table II. Socio-demographic characteristics of the sample (% of respondents, n= 150) Variable % Variable %

Sex Education level Male 54.7 Primary 37.3 Female 45.3 Secondary 32.0 Tertiary 30.7 Age 21-30 28.0 Occupation 31-40 26.7 Self employed 51.3 41-50 17.3 Civil service 22.7 >50 18.0 Private sector 6.7 Marital status Place of residence Single 24.7 Urban 78.0 Married 74.0 Semi-Urban 15.3 Separated/divorced 1.3 Rural 6.7

Figure 1: Consumer preference on fish species



Figure 2: Consumer ranking of value added products

Table III. Descriptive statistics for Consumer Suggested Price (TZS)

Tilapia African catfish

Products Average Median Min Max Average Median Min Max

Fish balls 299 300 100 700 328 300 100 700 Fish pie 454 500 100 1000 491 500 100 1500 Fish samosa 501 500 100 1500 537 500 100 1500 Hot-smoked fish 1107 1000 100 4000 1507 1250 100 15000

DISCUSSION

The results reveal that, all value added products of the farmed tilapia and African catfish were preferred by fish consumers despite the differences exhibited in African catfish hot-smoked versus pie and samosa. There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in tilapia and the purchase intent for all products. The finding implies that, consumers are willing to buy all the products regardless of the species difference. Therefore, value addition is an appropriate strategy in promoting consumption of less preferred fish species like African catfish in the Lake Victoria region. In this study, only two attributes (taste and purchase intent) were considered in assessing consumers‟ preference to the value added products. This has narrowed the scope of authors in giving recommendations to fish farmers and processors towards production and promotion of the tasted products. However, most consumer studies undertaken around the Lake Victoria region have reported tilapia to be the most preferred fish. However, the most eaten fish is Nile perch and dagaa (Sardines like). This is because Nile perch and dagaa fish are more abundant than other species (Abila, 2003; SEDAWOG, 1999). This consumption behavior highlights that consumers can switch to the value added products if fish farmers and processors embark in mass production. Currently, the value chain of farmed fish in the region is very short. The chain constituted by the fingerling producers, fish farmers and consumers of fresh grow out fish in the neighbourhood markets (Chenyambuga et al, 2012). The value chain is about what the market will pay for a good or service offered for sale. Therefore, fish farmers in Lake Victoria region will need to improve their chain performance through value addition for their competitiveness and profitability against wild fisheries.



ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors express gratitude to the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) for funding support. The department of Food Processing and Technology at Fisheries Education and Training Agency (FETA) for production of value added products. Appreciation also goes to our colleague Mr. Fenant Mhagama for his ample time to review the manuscript.

REFERENCES

Abila, R.O., (2003), “Fish Trade and Food Security: Are they Reconcilable in Lake Victoria?” In Food and Agriculture Organization, Fisheries Report. No.708. Rome.

Akter, M., Islamil, S.N., Reza, M.S., Shikha, F.H., and Kamal, M., (2013), “Quality evaluation of fish ball prepared from frozen stored striped African catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus)”, Journal of Agroforestry, Environment. 7 (1): 7-10.

Bardach, J.E., Ryther, J. H., and McLarney, W.O., (1972), Aquaculture, The farming husbandry of the freshwater and marine organisms, John Wiley, New York.

Burger, J., and Gochfeld, M., (2009), “Perceptions of the risks and benefits of fish consumption: Individual choices to reduce risk and increase health benefits”, Environmental Research, 109, 343–349.

Chenyambuga, S.W., Madalla, N.A., and Mnembuka, B.V., (2012), “Management and value chain of Nile Tilapia cultured in ponds of small-scale farmers in Morogoro region, Tanzania”, Paper presented in IIFET 2012 conference, Dar es salaam , Tanzania.

Field, A., (2009), “Discovering Statistics Using SPSS”, SAGE Publications Ltd. London EC1Y 1SP. Food and Agriculture Organization, (2012), The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture. Rome. Kaliba, A.R., Osewe K.O., Senkondo E.M., Mnembuka B.V., and Quagrainie K.K., ( 2006), “Economic

Analysis of Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Production in Tanzania” Journal of the World Aquaculture Society 37 (4): 464 – 473.

Katunzi, E.F.B., Mrosso, H.D.J., Nsinda, P.E., Ezekiel, C.N., Salehe, M. A., Msuku. B.S., Waya, R., Musiba, M., Luomba, J. O., Mhagama, F., Kapinga, I., (2010), A report on fisheries appraisal for Lakes Eyasi, Manyara, Babati, Burungi, Kindai and Singidani.

Kyule, D.N., Yongo, E., Opiyo, M.A., Obiero, K., Munguti, J.M., and Charo- Karisa, H., (2014), “Fish product development and market trials of fish and fish products in Kenya: a case study of Kirinyaga and Meru Counties”, Livestock Research for Rural Development 26 (6): 1-9.

Mohamad, R., Ahmad, M. F., Abidin, A.Z.Z., and Mohamad, R., (2011), “Consumers acceptance and purchase intent of fresh water fish products developed by MARDI”, Economic and Technology Management Review, 6: 77-82.

Muzaffarian, D., and Rimm, E.B., (2006), “Fish intake, contaminants, and Human Health: Evaluating the Risks and Benefits”, Journal of the American Medical Association, 296 (15): 1885-1899.

Naylor R. L., Goldburg, R.J., Primavera, J.H., Kautsky, N., Beveridge, M.C.M., Clay, J., Folke, C., Lubchenco, J., Mooney, H., and Troell, M., (2000), “Effect of aquaculture on World fish supplies”, Review article NATURE 405: 1017- 1023.

Shoko, P.A. A., Matola, H.D., Mzighani, S., and . Mahika, G.C., (2011), “Fishpond performance of Nile tilapia Oreochromis Niloticus (linnaeus, 1758) in the Lake Victoria basin, Tanzania”, Journal of Aquaculture in Tropics, 26: (1-2), 17-28.

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Consumer Preference on Value Added Products of Farmed Fish in Lake Victoria Basin, Tanzania

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