Rising fish price causes high demand in chicken

Many local vendors and fish dealers in the country have put the blame on the number of established fishmeal factories along the coastal villages including fishing activities of European and Chinese owned fishing trawlers in the sea.

The Point in an interview with many households around the Greater Banjul Areas (GBA) and West Coast Region, said the recent rise in consumption of imported chicken thighs among families in the country has increased due to the high prices of fishes at the local markets as compared to the affordable imported chicken thighs.

Musukebba Jammeh, a fisher vendor, said she eats chicken thighs with her family 4-times in a week, adding that she finds it hard to afford fish at the local markets.

“How do you expect me to spend an amount of D100 on fish alone; excluding other condiments for the day? I had never in my home eaten chicken legs more than a day in a week and sometimes it’s never cooked for the entire week,” she said.

She noted that she was surprised by the scale of increment in fish prices, saying she had never witnessed such in the country. “I have never witnessed such an increase in the price of fishes since I joined the business as a vendor. People have no other choice but to consume the chicken legs which are imported from outside the country and this might even have some health complications,” she warned.

Ahmed Seedy, a Mauritanian national, who sells chicken thighs in the Brikama Market, said many families now come to his shop to buy the chicken thighs as compared to recent years.

“I can say the number of households I receive daily in selling chicken legs at my shop have now increased compared to the past years.”

“I might not know the reason for their frequent buying and consumption of chicken legs but what many would always say is the hike in the prices of pelagic fish at the local markets. Can you imagine, sometime I sell 10 to 15 cartoons of imported chicken legs in a single day - something I never remembered doing for the past years,” he revealed.