Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) has announced that it had set up infrastructure for cold chain system at Kigali in a bid to curb post-harvest losses of fish
Wilson Rutaganira, aquaculture and fisheries programme coordinator at RAB, said that the infrastructure includes a cold room, containerised flakes and tanks and ice melting machines.
According to the board, the infrastructure can preserve 30 tonnes of fish per day.
Hawa Mukamana, a fish dealer in Kigali market, said that modern and appropriate fish processing and product development was difficult to them due to a myriad of challenges.
“The only fish processing methods in use are traditional smoking and sun drying on lake beaches. The small amount of fish caught in Rwanda’s lakes is all sold right at the lake side with nothing left to take to urban centres to avoid making losses as it gets bad due to a lack of preservation mechanisms,” added Mukamana.
Rutaganira noted that Rwanda currently imports 15,000 tonnes of fresh fish and another 15,000 of smoked fish worth US$10mn every year.
