| dc.description.abstract | Fish trading play significant role in the development of a country and in Uganda it is estimated to employ over 700,000 people in subsistence (95%) and commercial both at macro and micro level yet little attention is given to this sector.
The purpose of this study was to access the profitability of fish trading in Kakiri market, Wakiso district. To achieve this, the study had three objectives which were (I) to describe characteristics of fish traders (ii) to estimate the gross margins earned by fish traders and the factors that affect these margins and (iii) to identify challenges faced by fish traders.
This study employed a descriptive study design where a sample of 80 respondents mainly fish traders were randomly selected to participated in this study to avoid bias. Structure questionnaire was used to collect data which was then cleaned and analyzed using SPSS software. The results indicated that the majority of respondents were female with 67.5% who had attained at least primary education who used own capital for trading and that those who got loans, mainly got them from banks. Majority of these traders preferred fresh Nile tilapia because it was cheap to buy and was also highly demanded hence that it provided high profits to the traders. The average gross margin was 12,723,163.27 Uganda shillings earned by traders and The mean quantity of fish bought by the traders per day was 891.95kgs.
In this study, the researcher found out several constraints which lowered profit margins of the traders and these included higher taxes (28.75%), perishability (13.75%), poor quality fish products (10.00%), language barrier (16.25%), rivalry competition (1.25%) poor storage facilities (3.75%), insecurity (7.50%) and poor fishing methods (1.25%). All the above existed because the government of Uganda indicated that no sufficient fish farming research has been done to guide in planning for this sector.
The study further made recommendations among which was to provide loans to the traders with low interest rate to purchase freezers and refrigerators to prolong the shelf life of fish products which will enable traders to earn more profits and reduced taxes by the government on small businesses such as theirs. | en_US |
