Taraba fish market, where women are ‘in charge’

The Mayorenewo fish market in Ardo Kola Local Government Area of Taraba State is said to operate with a difference when it comes to those who run or call the shot in fish business. Weekend Trust reports that the market is known to be dominated by women in selling and buying smoked fish, forcing men […]

The Mayorenewo fish market in Ardo Kola Local Government Area of Taraba State is said to operate with a difference when it comes to those who run or call the shot in fish business.

Weekend Trust reports that the market is known to be dominated by women in selling and buying smoked fish, forcing men to serve as middlemen in this lucrative business.

Every market day (Saturday), thousands of women from neighbouring fishing communities would bring baskets filled with smoked fish for sale. They use canoes and engine boats to transport their fish into Mayorenewo town. 

The local jetty, located a kilometer away from the fish market, is usually busy from 3.50pm to midnight each Friday when the women would have travelled for several hours through the waterway.

In anticipation of the women, young boys line up with wheelbarrows at the edge of River Benue in Mayorenewo town, which serves as jetty. The boys, who are usually hundreds in number, await the arrival of canoes and engine boats every Friday. On arrival, the boys struggle to transport baskets of smoked fish to the market for a fee.

This practice has been on for several years.

Lawal Adamu, a primary school pupil, told Weekend Trust that he and his friends always looked forward to Fridays because they would make money by transporting fish from the jetty to the market. 

Adamu said they charged up to N400 for each wheelbarrow load of fish, adding that every Friday, a hard working boy could push up to 20 wheelbarrows from 3.50pm till midnight.

According to him, engine boats keep arriving from different parts of the riverine communities with fish. And that has been a source of income to them for generations.

The fish business usually commences in the market at night on Fridays. Also, there is a section where dried frogs and bush meat are usually sold. 

Customers, mostly from Benue and Abuja, patronise dried frogs – a special delicacy in some homes – such that before midnight, the whole frogs brought to the market would be sold. 

The fish market commences fully early Saturday morning. There are hundreds of customers from Borno, Adamawa, Kano, Benue, Plateau and many other places. 

Each buyer has a guide, normally a person from Mayorenewo town,  who serves as a middleman that would help  the buyer in price bargaining.

The women who brought the fish also rely on middlemen to have customers, although a customer can buy directly from them. The use of a middleman in the business has been a common practice for many years. 

Weekend Trust discovered that there are over 1,000 women selling smoked fish in the market while the men only serve as middlemen.

Jidda Mayorenewo, an engine boat operator and leaders of the fish market, told our correspondent that it had been a long time practice among fishing communities for women to engage in buying and selling.

“All these women who were born in fishing communities and their husbands are fishermen don’t have any other work except fishing,” Mayorenewo said.

He said the women would start buying fresh fish from fishermen at different locations along the bank of River Benue as from Monday each week and smoke the fish, which they bring to the market on Friday for the Saturday morning market. 

 Madam Lucy Ande, an elderly woman, told Weekend Trust that she started following her mother to the Mayorenewo fish market when she was 12 years old. After she got married to a fisherman, she also started the business of selling smoked fish. 

She said she started the business with a capital of N10,000 twenty years ago when a big basket of smoked fish was sold at N4,000; and gradually, her capital continued to increase.

Presently, she brings 10 baskets, which she sells between N80,000 and N120,000, depending on the size and type of fish available.

According to her, white fish is now more expensive than in the past years. She also said the rate of fish harvest had declined, while and cost of transportation from fishing villages to Mayorenewo doubled.

She said, “The price of fresh fish has gone up because of the high cost of transportation; that is why the price of smoked fish also increased.”

A middleman, Nuhu Danbankwai, told Weekend Trust that the price of smoked fish continued to increase every day, explaining that many factors are responsible for that, including a drastic decline in fish population in the rivers, which results in poor harvest. 

He also said that cost of transportation was another factor as the women bringing fish to the market travel for hours on waterways to Mayorenewo, usually on high fares.

According to him, fish caught in River Benue and ponds in the area are the best; that is why people always want to buy Taraba fish. 

Tani, a fish dealer, told our correspondent that she has been in the business for over 15 years, adding that she has many customers in Abuja, who she supplies fish on a weekly and monthly basis. 

According to her, she buys fish on a weekly basis and some time in two weeks; and she makes good fortune from the business. 

“In Abuja, my customers always want to buy Taraba fish. And they always ask for white fish. She said smoked fish business was profitable despite the fact that the price is very high now, she said. 

Findings revealed that 97 per cent of smoked fish traders in the market are mostly  Jukun Wanu women.

Explaining that the people of Junkun Wanu are traditionally fishermen who reside by the riverside, Bello Agyo, an elderly fisherman said, “We are the custodians of most of the waters in Taraba State.  And we can be found in Chad, Cameroon and  Niger Delta in Nigeria,” adding that women’s dominance of fishing activities took root as a cultural inheritance.

While acknowledging that the Jukun Wanu are known to be a people of water, he, however, said other tribes also earned their living by fishing, including the Kabawa from Argungun in Kebbi State and Wudulawa from the Wudil area of Kano.

He further said the Jenjo, Jiro, Wurbo and Burkani tribes could be found in Mayorenewo town.

Agyo lamented that the poor state of the road leading to the town had discouraged many fish traders from going to the town.

He further said that despite the high number of people coming to buy fish in the market, there are only few stalls. And that has been a problem to both sellers and buyers of fish, especially during the rainy season. 

Weekend Trust reports that other traders also bring their wares to the market because of the large population of fishermen and fish sellers that transact business there. For example, traders from Jalingo and other towns bring their wares to the market because of the good patronage they get from people that cross from fishing communities to purchase assorted items each week. 

Saad Yusuf Kawo, the district head of Mayorenewo, told our correspondent that the town, the local government and Taraba State are benefitting from the fish market in terms of revenue. He, however, lamented the bad condition of the road leading to the town, adding that the collapsed Namnai bridge has worsened the situation as many fish buyers from Abuja, Benue and the eastern part of the country have stopped coming because of the difficulty they face in crossing the river.

He called on Taraba State and the federal government to construct a road from Jalingo/Wukari to Mayorenewo town to ease the problems faced by people going to buy fish in the market.