Abstract

Although fish is economically and socially important, its marketing chain and their characteristics have not yet been studied and analyzed for Lake Zeway, Central Ethiopia, where great potential of fish production exists. The study was initiated to investigate the fish marketing chain in this area. This was done by identifying the marketing channels of fish and the major factors influencing its market supply. Data were collected from 90 households and 24 traders using a simple random sampling method. Results indicate that fishers, fishery cooperatives, retailers, wholesalers and consumers were the main actors of the fish marketing channel. Among the explanatory variables included in the econometric model, five variables (income from non-fish marketing, access to extension service, access to credit, price of fishes and access to market) were found to significantly influence the marketable supply of fish. The study identified the need for policy interventions by the Ethiopian government to improve storage and transportation systems as well as render other services like training, which would encourage fishers to be legal in order to improve harvesting and marketing of fish in the study area.

Key words: Fish, fish marketing, Lake Zeway, market chain, multiple linear regression analysis.