How To Set Up A Smoke Fish Business

Establishment of small-scale, appropriate and sustainable processing businesses that are flexible, require little capital investment and can be carried out in the home without the need for sophisticated or expensive equipment. This can go a long way in solving the problem of unemployment in developing countries. Examples of such agro-based small and medium scale enterprise are : catfish smoking, garri processing, moringa tea and powder production, etc. The electricity demand for these three is low and the whole process can be achieved with little energy.One of the easiest and cheapest cottage agric businesses you can start without stress is a catfish smoking industry. All you need to start this business is skill and determination. You don’t have to be a catfish farmer, you might not even have an idea of how the fish grow but you can make big money smoking fish for fish farmers. This is a business for both fish farmer and non fish farmer.

A new strategy that facilitates and adds value to our exports by processing and packaging unique products is urgently needed.Agro processing : turning primary agricultural products into other commodities for market , has the potential to provide reliable livelihood and employment

Efficient processing of fish (catfish, Tilapia, etc) have several advantages:

• It lengthen the fish shelf life
• It maintain the quality by reducing spoilage
• It make the product acceptable  to the customer
• It reduce transport costs
• It makes further processing easier
• And most  important ,it add value to the product

.  Differents methods of fish processing and preservation are: smoking, Degutting, Filleting. Sun-drying, Salting, Canning, Freezing, Frying. From all these methods we shall emphasis on fish smoking because of the export potential in smoked fish trade,and the local market demand.
The first step is to obtain some fresh fish.  If it doesn’t look FRESH or smell FRESH or feel FRESH, it will make your smoke fish end product taste bad. Poor quality raw fish produces poor quality end products. So use fresh fish. Fresh fish can be obtained from local producers.
Processing Steps

• After the purchasing of the fish, soak the fish into salt water. It will draw out any old ,add flavoring to the fish, etc
• Gutting the fish by removing the gills and the intestines and thoroughly washout the interior of the fish.
• Prepare a solution of salt water(2 1/2 tablespoons plain salt to 1 cup of water)
• Soak the fish in that solution for 15 minutes.
• Fold the fish into O-shape or cut it into chunks
• Grade the fish by sorting on the basis of size; it is important for fish processing as well as for marketing. and pre-dry them for 30minutes
• Clean the smoking kiln, especially the trays before and after use.
• Rub some vegetable oil on the trays to prevent sticking
• .Place fish, skin side down on oiled smoker tray .The charcoal or coals is burning at the bottom of the smoking kiln. If you use coals, wood is traditionally placed on top of burning coals to produce smoke to add a "smoky" flavor to the dish. If you use charcoal you do not need to add wood at the top of the charcoal since it produce smoke.
• Smoke the fish between 4 to 6 hours. If you have  preference for moist smoked fish,the smoking method you will use is call Cold Smoking: This involves a temperature of 30C-40C and the fish is not cooked. However, if you have preference for dry smoke fish wish we recommend because of the long shelf live,the smoking method is call Hot Smoking: This involves a temperature of more than 80C and the fish is  cooked, and dried.
• Inspect the fish periodically and interchange the trays from the top  to bottom and vice versa to prevent charring of the fish.
• Remove fish from smoker (use hand gloves when removing the hot trays) and cool it in the air.
• Store in air-tight packaging material

REQUIRED EQUIPMENTS AND TOOLS

• Smoking Kiln
• Weighing scale
• Knives
• Plastic Buckets
• Sealing Machine

The smoking kiln is a simple structure that you can build yourself or with the help of a welder. It has a capacity of  250kg/batch at a temperature of 80C; it occupy limited space;it is constructed  with metallic baffle sheet, covered from inside with oven-baked red brick or sawdust to prevent heat loss and a chimney at the top..
The Smoking kiln can contained over 200kg of fish for a duration of 6hours.If well processed,48kg of smoked dried fish can be obtained from 200kg of fresh catfish. This indicate that the smoking kiln process 400kg in12 hours which will give 96kg of  smoked dried fish.1kg of smoked dried fish can be sold for $15 each.
So, the benefits are great; apart from the local market demand for this product,you can earn hard currency by exporting it.

• To export it ,get in touch with the export agency of your country to get the necessary informations.
• If you wish to export to Europe you must have details informations about the requirements set by the EU(European Union).
• And if you want to export to USA,get details informations about the AGOA(African Growth and Opportunity Act)is a trade agreement between African countries and USA to allow african goods to export to the american market.