The project aims at assessing the welfare implication of the booming fish export at the household level around Lake Victoria. With the experience of the pilot study conducted successfully last September by Andrea Mannberg –a Ph.D candidate who is also working in the project. Adolf Mkenda and John Mduma coordinate the project and other logistics for the final field work to be carried out in March-April 2008. They are in charge of organizing the term of interviewers from the Lake Victoria regions and also organizing the interviewee.
The motivation of this study is the fact that the welfare benefits of the fish export boom has been contested; others have argued that it has been good to the households in terms of increased income; others have maintained different views, arguing that fish export has lead to a decline in fish intake in the household diets, and thus a decline in the nutrition status of households around lake Victoria. Thus using survey data and two household budget survey data, one for the year 1991 and the other for 2001 the researcher in this project will attempt to shed more light on the welfare implications of the export boom to the households around Lake Victoria. The two surveys took place at a good interval that separated the pre-export boom period from the period that the boom really picked up. The analysis will be partial because the two surveys can not answer all interesting questions.