When people discuss Kenya’s fish industry, attention often goes first to the people who catch fish or operate fish farms. Yet the journey from water to consumer involves many other activities, and women are deeply involved in several of them.
Across Kenya’s fisheries and aquaculture value chains, women participate in fish processing, trading, retailing, transportation, food preparation, aquaculture, input supply and small-scale enterprise. Their roles are particularly visible after fish is harvested, where handling, processing, marketing and retail determine how much value reaches consumers and how much income is retained within fishing and farming communities.
The contribution is significant, but much of this work takes place in informal or small-scale businesses and can therefore receive less recognition than the primary production activities.
Women are especially active after fish is harvested
The fisheries value chain includes much more than catching or farming fish. Once fish leaves a pond, lake, river or other production system, it has to be handled, transported, preserved, processed, marketed and eventually sold to consumers.
Women have traditionally been strongly represented in these post-harvest activities. FAO identifies processing, marketing and trade among the areas where women are particularly active in fisheries and aquaculture value chains globally.
In Kenya, this is particularly visible around small-scale fisheries. Women may purchase fish at landing sites, sort and clean it, process it through drying, frying or other methods, transport it to markets, and sell it directly to consumers or other traders.
This creates an important economic link between fishers and the people who eventually eat the fish.
The omena trade shows the scale of women’s involvement
The Lake Victoria omena value chain provides a useful Kenyan example.
Omena, also known as silver cyprinid (Rastrineobola argentea), supports extensive fishing, processing and trading activities around the lake. Historically, women have been prominent among the small-scale processors and traders who purchase landed fish and dry it for sale.
An FAO-documented case from western Kenya described women as the predominant traditional processors and traders of omena in several fishing communities. In Karungu, for example, the documented value chain involved hundreds of women working as fish processors, traders and brokers. The same case showed how access to market information through mobile phones helped women traders negotiate with buyers and obtain better prices.
The example illustrates an important point about the fish value chain. A person does not have to catch the fish to create economic value from it. Drying, sorting, aggregating, finding buyers and moving fish to markets are all commercially important activities.
Fish processing creates another important entry point
Fresh fish is highly perishable, making handling and preservation critical to the value chain.
Women participate in activities such as cleaning, gutting, drying, smoking, frying and other forms of processing, depending on the species, market and location. Processing can extend shelf life and make fish available to consumers who are not located close to landing sites or farms.
In small-scale fisheries, however, processing businesses can face constraints including inadequate drying areas, limited cold storage, poor sanitation facilities and restricted access to improved equipment. These challenges can affect both product quality and the income that processors are able to earn.
Improved post-harvest technology can therefore have commercial significance beyond simply reducing spoilage. Better handling, drying, storage, packaging and transportation can allow processors and traders to supply higher-quality products and reach more demanding markets.
Women are also fish traders and retailers
Trading is another major area of women’s participation.
A trader may buy fish directly from a fisher, farmer, aggregator or another trader and then sell it in a local market, neighborhood, restaurant or other outlet. Some businesses operate at very small scale, while others aggregate larger quantities and supply customers beyond their immediate communities.
Women traders therefore perform an important market-linking function.
They help move fish from areas where it is produced to areas where consumers need it. Their knowledge of local demand, prices, customers and seasonal purchasing patterns can influence how fish moves through the market.
Access to reliable market information is particularly important. Prices can change according to supply, species, size, season and location. Where traders have limited information or bargaining power, they may be forced to accept prices that reduce their margins.
Women are participating in aquaculture too
Women’s involvement is not limited to capture fisheries.
Aquaculture provides opportunities for women as fish farmers, workers, processors, traders and entrepreneurs. Government documentation on fisheries and aquaculture projects in Kenya also identifies women and youth among people involved in fish farming, processing and marketing.
Women may operate ponds individually or through groups, participate in feeding and pond management, assist with harvesting, or become involved further along the chain through fish sales and processing.
Their participation can also extend to activities surrounding production, including the supply of inputs, marketing services and small businesses that support fish farmers.
The growing importance of aquaculture means that women’s participation in Kenya’s fish industry should increasingly be viewed across the entire farm-to-market chain rather than only through the traditional fishing communities around major lakes.
Women are increasingly involved in fish businesses and value addition
Fish can generate considerably more economic value after harvest when it is properly handled, processed, packaged and marketed.
This creates opportunities for women entrepreneurs to move beyond selling raw fish.
A small enterprise can, for example, purchase fish, process it into a marketable product, package it and sell it through retail outlets or directly to consumers. Other businesses may specialize in prepared fish meals, fish products or distribution.
Such enterprises connect fisheries with the wider food economy and create additional employment around production.
Research from Kenya also illustrates the importance of women at several stages of the cultured fish value chain. A 2025 study of cultured tilapia in Kakamega County found that women accounted for 64 percent of the participants surveyed across farming, processing and retail stages. The study focused on post-harvest fish losses and demonstrated the importance of handling practices across multiple stages of the value chain.
The figure should not be treated as a national proportion of women in Kenya’s fish industry because the research covered a specific county and study population. It does, however, demonstrate that women can represent a substantial share of actors in local aquaculture value chains.
Financial access remains an important issue
Participation in the fish value chain does not automatically mean equal access to the resources needed to grow a business.
Women operating fisheries-related businesses may face difficulties accessing credit, productive assets, technology, training, market information and business infrastructure. FAO identifies these resource and service gaps as persistent constraints affecting women’s participation in fisheries and aquaculture value chains.
In Kenya’s omena value chain, for example, FAO research has documented differences in access to productive assets and finance, with men holding most boat assets and women relying more heavily on trading and processing activities.
For a woman running a fish-trading business, access to working capital can determine how much fish she can purchase. Access to appropriate storage can determine how long she can hold stock. Access to transport can determine which markets she can reach.
These are not separate from the value chain. They directly influence how much value a business can capture.
Better market information can change the economics
Information is one of the less visible resources in fish marketing.
A trader who knows the price being offered in several markets can make better decisions about where and when to sell. A processor who understands customer preferences can adjust packaging or processing methods. A farmer who has information about demand can make production and harvesting decisions with the market in mind.
The Kenyan omena example documented by FAO is particularly useful because it showed how mobile-phone-based market information helped women processors and traders improve their bargaining position.
Today, digital communication creates even more possibilities for this kind of market connection. Mobile payments, messaging platforms, online marketing and digital ordering can help small fish businesses communicate with customers and buyers without depending entirely on physical market networks.
The technology itself is not enough, however. Women need affordable access to the technology, relevant market information and the skills required to use it effectively.
Women’s role extends beyond selling fish
The contribution of women to the fish value chain is also connected to household nutrition and food security.
Women are often involved in decisions about food purchasing and preparation, meaning their participation in fish markets can influence both household income and access to nutritious foods.
Fish provides high-quality protein and important micronutrients, while income from fish-related businesses can support household expenses, education and other economic needs.
This makes women’s participation relevant at both the commercial and household levels.
The value chain still has gaps to address
Women’s participation should not be confused with equal opportunity.
FAO notes that women in fisheries and aquaculture are frequently concentrated in informal, seasonal, lower-paid and less secure parts of the value chain, while their representation in management and decision-making positions remains limited.
Kenyan fish value chains also face practical challenges around infrastructure, market access, food safety, cold storage, finance and technology. Addressing these constraints can improve the businesses operated by women while also improving the efficiency of the wider fish industry.
Better landing and market facilities, improved cold chains, appropriate processing equipment, access to finance, business training and reliable market information can all strengthen the position of women within the value chain.
At the same time, women’s participation in producer organizations, cooperatives, Beach Management Units, business associations and other decision-making structures matters because many of the decisions affecting fisheries are made collectively.
Recognizing the people behind the fish market
Kenya’s fish industry depends on a chain of activities that begins with production and ends with consumption. Women are present across many of those stages.
They process fish, trade it, transport it, retail it, prepare it for consumers, farm fish, operate small businesses and help connect producers with markets. In some settings, women also participate in financing and managing fisheries-related enterprises.
Their contribution is therefore not simply an additional component of the fish economy. It is part of how the value chain functions.
As Kenya develops its fisheries and aquaculture sector, strengthening women’s access to finance, technology, infrastructure, training, market information and decision-making opportunities can help ensure that more of the economic value generated by fish reaches the people working throughout the chain.
For farmers, fishers, processors, traders, businesses and consumers, understanding these connections is important. The fish that reaches a Kenyan plate is the result of many people working across production, handling, processing, distribution and marketing. Women are an important part of that system.