Asian Journal of Applied Science and Engineering
ISSN 2305-915X(p); 2307-9584(e)
Consumer Preference on Value Added
Products of Farmed Fish in Lake Victoria
Basin, Tanzania
1
1
1
1
Salehe, M.A ; Luomba, J.O ; Musiba, M ; Mlaponi, E ; Mghamba, K.J
2
1
Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute, Mwanza, Tanzania
Fisheries Education and Training Agency, Mwanza, Tanzania
2
ARTICLE INFO
Volume 3
Number 5/2014
Issue 9
DOI: 10.15590/ajase/
Received: Nov 13, 2014
Accepted: Dec 19, 2014
Revised: Dec 23, 2014
Published: Jan 04, 2015
E-mail for correspondence:
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
This paper articulates the empirical evidence on consumer taste
preference and purchase intent of value added products of farmed
tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). To
meet the study objective, 150 fish consumers in Nyamagana district,
Mwanza tasted various fish products including fishballs, samosa, pie
and hot-smoked fish. A 3- point Likert scale was used to rank the taste
and purchase intent for each product. Percentages and frequency
distribution were calculated for descriptive analysis. Kruskal–Wallis test
was performed for statistical analysis to find out the significant
differences between consumer preference to the taste and willingness to
purchase the fish products. Subsequently, Mann-Whitney U test was
performed for post hoc tests. Results indicate that, the consumers’ taste
preference between African catfish products were significantly different
(H (3) = 11.40, p < 0.05) but there was no significant difference on the
tilapia products (H (3) = 7.04, p > 0.05). Furthermore, no significant
difference was observed on the purchase intent of all products for the
two species (H (3) = 4.090, p > 0.05 for tilapia products, and H (3) =
2.953, p > 0.05 for African catfish products). Generally, the consumers
accepted the taste of all products, despite the differences exhibited for
the African catfish products. Training and promotion of value addition for
farmed fish is therefore recommended to improve fish consumption as
well as enhancing market performance for the aquaculture industry.
Key words: Value addition; farmed fish; taste; purchase intent; Lake
Victoria region
Source of Support: ASARECA, Conflict of Interest: Declared.
How to Cite: Salehe M, Luomba J, Musiba M, Mlaponi E and Mghamba K. 2014. Consumer Preference on Value
Added Products of Farmed Fish in Lake Victoria Basin, Tanzania Asian Journal of Applied Science and
Engineering, 3, 28-33.
This article is is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon work non-commercially, and
although the new works must also acknowledge & be non-commercial.
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Asian Journal of Applied Science and Engineering
ISSN 2305-915X(p); 2307-9584(e)
INTRODUCTION
W
orldwide, fish is recognized as an excellent source of low-fat protein and thus
categorized as food with many health benefits including essential fatty acids, minerals
and vitamins (Sidhu, 2003; Mozaffarian and Rimm, 2006; Mohamad et al., 2011; Burger
and Gochfeld, 2009). For decades, capture fisheries are known to be a major supply of fish for
human consumption and animal feeds. However, the declining trend of fish from capture
fisheries, due to increased demand caused by the human population growth, aquaculture
remains the only source of filling the gap (Naylor et al., 2000; FAO, 2012). In East Africa,
aquaculture is relatively undeveloped, but it is a potential and can contribute to the
improvement of income and food security (FAO, 2012; Shoko et al., 2011, Kaliba et al.,
2006). This paper aims at enhancing the utilization of aquaculture productivity, through
value addition and market innovations of products for tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and
African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). The species were chosen because of their inherited
characteristics of environmental tolerance, and superior growth (Bardach et al., 1972;
Kaliba et al., 2006). In Lake Victoria region, tilapia is the most preferred fish species by
most fish consumers (Abila, 2003; SEDAWOG, 1999). It is worth noting that some fish
species are rejected by consumers because of their unattractive shape, color and flavor
among others. The African catfish is among the fish species facing the same challenge in
the region, but the most preferred in other part of the country especially around the Rift
Valley lakes (Katunzi et al, 2010; unpublished data).
Value addition for fish is an important strategy that will add economic value and possibly
widen the market performance while reducing a problem of post harvest losses in sub-Saharan
Africa (Kyule et al., 2014, Mohamad et al., 2011). The popularity of fish products in the diet has
increased due to the international recommendation to lower the total level of dietary fat (Akter
et al., 2013). The common fish products sold in most of the fish markets in Tanzania include
fresh, salted, hot-smoked and fried fish. These fish products are not suitable for other fish
species like African catfish. Market innovations through introduction and promotion of other
products that are not commonly available in fish markets is also paramount importance for
products differentiation between wild and farmed fish in Lake Victoria region, Tanzania.
Therefore, various value added products in form of fish balls, fish pie, fish samosa and hotsmoked were evaluated for consumer preference and purchase intent. The paper presents the
findings of the survey carried out in Nyamagana district, Mwanza region.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
An assessment of consumer taste preference and purchase intent of value added products of
farmed fish was carried out at Nyamagana district in Mwanza city. Four value added products
from African catfish and tilapia were processed in form of: balls, samosa, pie and hot-smoked
as presented in the table I below. One hundred fifty respondents were sampled to evaluate the
products taste during the National Agricultural Exhibition which was held from 1st to 10th
August 2013. Information on consumers‟ demography, fish species preference, taste and
purchase intent of each product were collected. Purposive sampling was done to target only
respondents with no taboo in eating the mentioned fish species. Eight coded products were
presented to the participants to evaluate their taste preference and willingness to purchase the
products. The respondents were also served with plain water to cleanse their palettes between
the products. Questions were designed in a 3-point Likert scale as 1 being Poor, 2= Good, 3=
Very Good for the taste evaluation, and 1=Will definitely buy, 2= Might buy, 3= Will definitely
not buy, for the purchase intent. IBM SPSS Statistics Version 21 was used to analyze the
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Asian Journal of Applied Science and Engineering
ISSN 2305-915X(p); 2307-9584(e)
collected data. Kolmogorov–Smirnova and Shapiro- Wilk (K-S test) and Levene tests were
performed to test the normality of the sample distribution and homogeneity of variance. All
data analyzed were considered significant at the level of 0.05. For the statistical analysis,
Kruskal-Wallis test was performed as it is an appropriate method for ranked data, and testing
the differences between several independent groups as described by Field (2009). Since the
Kruskal-Wallis test just indicates the existence of significant difference between the groups but
does not show where the differences exactly lies, the Mann-Whitney U test was performed for
post hoc tests.
Table I: Summary of the methods for preparation of the fish value added products
RESULTS
Table II shows the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents, 54.7% (n =150) were
males and 45.3% females, and 74% of the respondents were married. Majority (78%) of the
respondents lived in urban areas, and about 51% indicated to be self-employed. Age
distribution of many respondents falls between 20-30 (28%) and 30-40 (26%). About 37% of the
respondents had attained primary education; while 32% and 31% had attained secondary and
tertiary education respectively. Almost 80% of interviewed respondents indicated that tilapia
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Asian Journal of Applied Science and Engineering
ISSN 2305-915X(p); 2307-9584(e)
was their most favorite fish species and only 9% of respondents preferred African catfish
(Figure 1). In addition, 60% of respondents stated that, the fried fish is the value added product
which is commonly found in the markets, while, 22% of respondents mentioned of the smoked
fish. The findings further revealed that, over 60% of value added products of both farmed
tilapia and African catfish species were ranked “Very good”. However, the consumers
preferred much more the taste of samosa and pie of African catfish which scored over 90%
„Very good‟ (Figure 2). The results indicate that, there is a significant difference on consumer
taste preference of African catfish products, H (3) = 11.40, p < 0.05; while there is no significant
difference for the tilapia products H (3) = 7.04, p > 0.05. The Mann–Whitney test based on the
critical value of 0.01 indicated that, the differences were on African catfish pie and hot-smoked
products (U=9741.5, r = -0.17), as well as between samosa and hot-smoked (U=9965, r= -0.15).
The pie and samosa were made from the same ingredients but differ in the shape of the final
products and therefore could be attributed to the depicted difference. The results also indicated
that, despite the taste difference in some African catfish products, there was no significant
difference in purchase intent of all the products (H (3) = 4.090, p > 0.05 for tilapia products and
H (3) = 2.953, p > 0.05 for African catfish products). Table 3 indicates the suggested price by
consumers for each product. The average price (1 USD is eguivalent to 1,650 TZS) for each
product varies between the two fish species, while the median prices for all products were the
same except for the hot-smoked products. The hot-smoked prices were slightly higher
compared to other products as influenced by the size of the whole fish.
Table II. Socio-demographic characteristics of the sample (% of respondents, n= 150)
Variable
Sex
Male
Female
%
Variable
Education level
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
54.7
45.3
Age
21-30
31-40
41-50
>50
Marital status
Single
Married
Separated/divorced
%
37.3
32.0
30.7
28.0
26.7
17.3
18.0
Occupation
Self employed
Civil service
Private sector
51.3
22.7
6.7
24.7
74.0
1.3
Place of residence
Urban
Semi-Urban
Rural
78.0
15.3
6.7
Figure 1: Consumer preference on fish species
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Asian Journal of Applied Science and Engineering
ISSN 2305-915X(p); 2307-9584(e)
Figure 2: Consumer ranking of value added products
Table III. Descriptive statistics for Consumer Suggested Price (TZS)
Products
Fish balls
Fish pie
Fish samosa
Hot-smoked fish
Average
299
454
501
1107
Tilapia
Median
300
500
500
1000
Min
100
100
100
100
Max
700
1000
1500
4000
Average
328
491
537
1507
African catfish
Median
Min
300
100
500
100
500
100
1250
100
Max
700
1500
1500
15000
DISCUSSION
The results reveal that, all value added products of the farmed tilapia and African catfish were
preferred by fish consumers despite the differences exhibited in African catfish hot-smoked
versus pie and samosa. There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in tilapia and the
purchase intent for all products. The finding implies that, consumers are willing to buy all the
products regardless of the species difference. Therefore, value addition is an appropriate
strategy in promoting consumption of less preferred fish species like African catfish in the Lake
Victoria region.
In this study, only two attributes (taste and purchase intent) were considered in assessing
consumers‟ preference to the value added products. This has narrowed the scope of authors in
giving recommendations to fish farmers and processors towards production and promotion of
the tasted products. However, most consumer studies undertaken around the Lake Victoria
region have reported tilapia to be the most preferred fish. However, the most eaten fish is Nile
perch and dagaa (Sardines like). This is because Nile perch and dagaa fish are more abundant
than other species (Abila, 2003; SEDAWOG, 1999). This consumption behavior highlights that
consumers can switch to the value added products if fish farmers and processors embark in
mass production. Currently, the value chain of farmed fish in the region is very short. The
chain constituted by the fingerling producers, fish farmers and consumers of fresh grow out
fish in the neighbourhood markets (Chenyambuga et al, 2012). The value chain is about what
the market will pay for a good or service offered for sale. Therefore, fish farmers in Lake
Victoria region will need to improve their chain performance through value addition for their
competitiveness and profitability against wild fisheries.
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Asian Journal of Applied Science and Engineering
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors express gratitude to the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in
Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) for funding support. The department of Food
Processing and Technology at Fisheries Education and Training Agency (FETA) for production
of value added products. Appreciation also goes to our colleague Mr. Fenant Mhagama for his
ample time to review the manuscript.
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-- 0 –
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