Smoking and drying is a stage along the catfish value chain that one can venture in. For starters, it might not be mandatory that you have fish ponds or rear the catfish that you are going to smoke and dry. You can just buy the catfish from farmers that do the rearing and then you do the value addition.
Equipment required
You would need the fishes which can either be reared or bought and an oven which can either be a charcoal oven, electric, or gas oven. You also need a chopping board, a knife, and salt to do the preservation.
For packaging, you need packaging material that is branded as well as a license from a regulating body that allows you do to the export.
Processing fish
After getting the fish, weigh the fish, put them in a container and add salt then cover to make the fish inactive.
Use water to clean the fish and as well remove the fins and gills.
Marinate the fish with a salt solution where you put the fish in a container and add to them a salt solution. The salt solution helps act as a preservative, adds taste to the fish, and as well makes their skin thick and firm.
Arrange the fish in an oven and heat them for 1 to 2 days depending on the temperature at which you have been heating the oven. Regulate the oven temperature to ensure that the fish neither gets dry nor burnt.
After, remove the fish from the oven, clean them, and package them ready for export.
