Modify known food recipes for wider variety of edibles - Woman entrepreneur advises food processors

An entrepreneur, with speciality in the fish processing industry, has advised food processors to modify known food recipes to help offer a wider variety of edibles to consumers.

Mabel Quarshie, 55, and mother of two, quit her banking job in 2014 to start an “Aquatic World”- a fish farm at Nitriku, a suburb of Akuse in the Shai Osudoku District of the Greater Accra Region.

She began with 10 cages but low profitability caused her to break from the farming for about a-year-and-a-half, during which she explored fish processing, and eventually settled on mastering the art of making fish sausages.

“During research, I chanced upon fish sausages”, she told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at a stand she had mounted at an Agriculture Fair in Ho, which formed part of the 2019 National Farmers Day event.

She said preliminary production started in her kitchen with samples undergoing passionate critique from friends, while she searched the storehouses of information on the internet to develop a product unique to herself.

Unique product

The reviews were positive, and with enough motivation and encouragement, she made the bold decision to move production out of her home to a befitting rented facility, in 2018.

A training opportunity at the Ugandan Industrial Research Institute helped her to perfect the recipe. She can now produce machine dried tilapia (koobi), in addition to a wide array of processed tilapia made according to customer specifications.

She produces fish patty for making burgers and other fish-based fillings, and is on a mission to innovate local foods into as many recipes as possible, starting with fish.

Fish sausage

Ms Quarshie says market response to the fish sausage has been amazing - easily becoming a preference for consumers, seeking to avoid chicken or pork sausages.

Going up the food processing ladder has not been without challenges - slow public response to innovations, something that kept dragging her down.

There is also the element of slow patronage, due to the fact that innovative, healthy foods are increasingly becoming expensive.

Added to those is poor funding, especially for starters, something that needs to be tackled.

Her outfit offers packed foods with increasing variety which could expand to create more jobs, if given strong support.

“I'm still researching for more products on the market. I am looking at more innovative ways of processing fish, and they are more in line with foreign methods.

“Most Ghanaians love fish but don’t eat them because of limited options,” she explained.

Incubation model

She is eager to set up an entrepreneurial incubation model to provide an avenue for young people and women to learn skills in fish farming.

This way, the youth are going to be transformed into “aqua-preneurs” to help fill gaps in the food value chain.

The incubation model started slowly on a small scale in 2018 and has five members so far.

Value chain

Ms Quarshie has acquired land at Akuse to develop the entire value chain, and is upbeat that within five to 10 years, the incubation model will be in place, locally growing fish for processing, “in a well-established and hygienic place.

“Fish processing is less expensive than fish farming, and is easier to profit from.

“We must not limit ourselves. Let's explore, copy, modify and paste, not just copy and paste,” she stated.

Madam Quarshie added that fresh catfish was an exceptionally tasty treat but the fish was mostly consumed smoke-dried.

“Catfish can be consumed very fresh.

It tastes just like meat and is very palatable,” she explained.

Alternative fish products

She has realised that there is huge demand for alternative fish products on the Ghanaian and the West African market, and is on a mission to meet them.

The fish processing sector requires stakeholder support in creating awareness of clean, and healthy ways of harvesting, storing and processing fish.

Stakeholders will need to make sure that fish handlers do the right things, because, “fish is not hard cooked, it must be well preserved when raw.”

Ms Quarshie’s outfit offers jobs, and creates livelihood enhancement opportunities for the youth, most of whom are engaged in the production.
For a woman who dreamed of becoming self-employed by age 50, she has discovered the vehicle she needed for that goal.

“I got tired and stressed from working at the bank and I wanted to pursue a passion,” she explained.
She has formed a “Women in Agribusiness” group to encourage others like herself to venture into the entrepreneurial world.

Samples of her fish sausage, on display at the fair, attracted lots of curious individuals and she had to devise clever ways of not getting every 'testing officer' to sample the limited stock.