Value chain analysis of fish in Gamo zone, Southern Ethiopia

This study aims to identify value-chain actors, estimating the profit share of each actor in the chain and identifying constraints and opportunities along the fish value chain. Data from 120 sampled respondents were collected through extensive personal interviews; field observation and the collected data were processed in a (SPSS) statistical package for social science. The study identified six main value-chain actors (fishermen, fishermen cooperatives, wholesalers, processors, retailers, and end-users/consumers) who were involved in value-adding, supplying, collecting and marketing, and consuming, but still there were slightly strong market linkage among actors. They lack a win-win strategy in the overall share of cost and profit. For instance, of the value-chain actors in districts, fishermen share high costs but as evident, they earn little profit. The sector faces many production constraints (lack of modern knowledge and poor harvesting and storage facilities, illegal fishing materials, weak governance, and many harvesting sites) and marketing constraints (price fluctuation, poor quality supply-insufficient value-added and seasonality of market). However, to ensure the benefit of the actors and profitability of the sector there should be a need for building good governance for better proper management of monitoring and evaluation and thereby strengthen the chain. Creating an enabling environment of postharvest handling and optimal value addition. Further, there is still a need for studying standard mesh size, weight and maturity stage of each fish species in each lake