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Aquaculture 186 2000 243–251 www.elsevier.nlrlocateraqua-online
Factors influencing fish prices in Southern Malawi
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Randall E. Brummett
International Center for LiÕing Aquatic Resources Management ICLARM , P.O. Box 2416, Cairo, Egypt Accepted 9 December 1999
Abstract
Nine markets in the Southern Region of Malawi were studied. The prices of 79 separate purchases were compared for market type, species, form of preservation, total length, distance of
retail market from the capture fishery of origin, and distance of retail market from the main commercial center of Blantyre. Interviews with retailers and consumers were conducted to help
interpret price data and better understand marketing procedures. Average prices were significantly higher in urban than in rural markets. Fresh fish were found to fetch higher prices in rural but not
in urban markets. In neither type of market, a premium was paid for a particular species group or for larger fish. The implications for aquaculture development in Malawi are discussed. q 2000
Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Malawi; Pricing; Fish markets; Aquaculture policy
1. Introduction
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UNICEFrGOM 1993 and the World Bank 1996 recently reviewed the Malawian economy and published the following statistics:
Ø The inequality of income distribution in Malawi is the worst of any African country for which information is available. The vast majority of wealth resides with small
urban populations. Ø Ninety percent of Malawi’s population is rural.
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Ø Eighty percent of Malawians earn less than MK 241 US16.00 in 1996 per year. Ninety four percent of these people reside in rural areas.
Corresponding author.
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ICLARM contribution number 1556. 0044-8486r00r - see front matter q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
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PII: S 0 0 4 4 - 8 4 8 6 9 9 0 0 3 8 3 - X
Ø A 50-kg bag of diammonium phosphate fertilizer retails for over MK 500. Ø Seventy five percent of Malawian families cannot feed themselves, producing, on the
average, only 64 of their own food requirements. Their meager cash income can make up only a portion of the shortfall.
The pervasive hunger and lack of cash among rural populations constrain both production and marketing of agricultural commodities. For example, with no cash to
purchase fertilizers or other inputs, farmers tend to rely on the existing farm resource base, which, of course, diminishes over time as produce is eaten andror sold. In
addition, since most consumers are lacking in cash to purchase food, they must rely on traditional or barter systems to get them through the seasons when their own farms
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. most consumers are also smallholding farmers have failed to produce enough for the
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entire year Brummett, 1995 . Aquaculture integrated into the smallhold farming system has been shown to improve
Ž both productivity and cash flows with little or no external input Brummett and Noble,
. 1995 , and is being promoted by the Malawi Fisheries Department as a means of
addressing rural poverty and resource degradation. Existing technology focuses on maximizing individual fish size based on the assumption that larger fish would be more
profitable to grow.
The profitability of aquaculture will be largely determined by market conditions and the technology available to fish farmers. The most useful technology will permit farmers
to customize their production system to meet market demand. Field workers have noted that little or no premium is paid by African consumers for fish above a minimum market
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size Gilberg, 1966; Mdaihli, 1992 . To determine what types of technology should be developed and promoted, the Malawi Fisheries Department requested the International
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Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management ICLARM to learn how urban and rural markets differ in terms of demand for fish and what type of fish should be grown
to determine the size that optimizes crop value.
2. Materials and methods
