Mapping of marketing channels and value chain analysis of some commercially important shellfish species landings in the East Medinipur district, West Bengal

West Bengal with a coastline of 158 km, two coastal districts, 171 marine fishing villages, 49 marine fish landing centres, 3.7 lakh fisher folk population (CMFRI Census, 2016) has contributed 2.6 lakh t of marine fish landings during 2020 registering an increase of 4.6% compared to 2019. The marine landings during the period were dominated by pelagic resources with landings of 1.25 lakh t (49%) followed by demersal (82,000 t, 32%), crustacean resources (41,000 t, 16%) and molluscan resources (8,000 t, 3%). The major resources contributed to the total crustacean landings of the state during the period were penaeid shrimps (66%) followed by non-penaeid shrimps (21%), crabs (13%) and lobsters (<1%). Similarly the major resources contributed to the total molluscan landings were cuttlefishes (71%), followed by squids (28%). Octopus formed a meagre landing, contributing nearly 1% of the total molluscan landings of the state. The major gears contributing to the total marine landings of the state were mechanized multi-day trawlers (54%) followed by mechanized gill netters (12%) and inboard bag netters (7%). Other gears such as mechanized bag netters, inboard gill netters, hook and liners and shore seiners together contributed about 27% to the total marine fish landings of West Bengal (CMFRI, 2020)

Fish Demand Paradigms and Perspectives Across Telangana, India

The fish supply in the country has continued to show unprecedented growth over the last two decades. However, the fish demand exhibits wide variation across/ within the different states, seasons, and species. For millennia, fish has been acknowledged as a great human food source and is valued as a complete diet. Since high malnutrition levels are linked to higher child mortality, this would ensure that the fisheries sector contributes to meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs: Goal 4- Reducing child mortality; Goal 5- Improved maternal health). Telangana is one of the main fish-producing and consuming states in the nation, where the per capita fish consumption of fish is one and half times the national average. The demand and supply relations are on par over the years

Economic evaluation of marine fishing operations in Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal, India

The marine fish landing in West Bengal, India during 2020 was estimated at 2.60 lakh tonnes, contributing 9.5% of the total marine fish landings in the country. The techno-economic evaluation of different fishing methods on the West Bengal coast was carried out to assess the economic efficiency. The boat and net combinations throughout the years have seen spectacular changes because of the enormous expense of fishing, the time taken for fishing and the prefunding of activities and support. Fuel accounted for the major share (56 to 66%) in operational costs of mechanized crafts. In motorized crafts, the contribution of fuel to operational costs ranged from 21.6% to 23.6%. Crew wages, which formed only 17.8 to 23.2% of the operational costs in mechanized crafts, contributed the major share (44.4% to 54.7%) in motorized crafts. In non-motorized crafts, more than 70% of the operational cost was towards crew wages. Net Profit Margin and Return on Investment were 16.2 to 22.9% and 0.5 to 1.07 for mechanized fishing operations, 21.1% to 59.3% and 0.42 to 1.85 for motorized fishing operations and 26.3% to 31% and 1.25 to 3.92 for non-motorized fishing operations, indicating motorized fishing operations to be the most economically efficient method. Capital Productivity and Input-Output Ratios were 0.65 to 0.85 and 0.47 to 0.65 for mechanized fishing operations, 0.38 to 0.70 and 0.13 to 0.23 for motorized fishing operations and 0.65 to0.67 and close to nil for non-motorized fishing operations. The gross value added (GVA) of all fishing operations worked out to about 50 % of the gross revenue, which is a significant contribution to the economy. In fishing tasks, the expanded expense of fishing per trip, the diminished landings and the ensuing decrease in the gross returns per trip have been cited as significant requirements influencing the financial returns from various fishing methods, by the fishers

Impact of COVID 19 pandemic on marine fisheries sector: A case study from Andhra Pradesh, India

This study discusses the impact of first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic on marine fisheries sector of Andhra Pradesh, India, covering the aspects of active fishing days, perception on reduction or enhancement of demand for fish, trends in price realisation, challenges encountered in marketing the fish, perceptions on government interventions as well as changes in socio-behavioural issues. The study was conducted during the period from June to September 2021, among a sample of 152 stakeholders involved in fishing and allied activities from Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari and Krishna districts in Andhra Pradesh. Average number of active fishing days in a month was found to be 11.44 during the first wave and 15.10 during the second wave periods. Nearly three-fourth of the respondents (73.68%) perceived that there was reduction in demand for fish during the first wave of the pandemic, and it was to the tune of 40%. Reduction in the daily earnings was reported to the tune of 37.09%. The challenges encountered in marketing the fish were, getting export orders, access to market, availability of storage, transportation and logistics. Peer interaction, time spent with family members and time spent in social media were higher than usual during both waves of the pandemic. Changes or disruptions in usual marketing channels were reported during both the periods. Satisfied perception was expressed on government interventions such as ration, timely advisories, health care and sanitary measures. A few positive impacts on fisheries observed during the pandemic were product innovations, new distribution channels such as online marketing, e-commerce and home deliveries, shortening of supply chains including elimination of auction at fishing harbour, lowering of ocean pollution as well as government reforms. From the results of the study, we propose socio-economic interventions to be taken up by concerned governments for ensuring that the impact of the pandemic is mitigated and also that any future pandemic can have minimal impacts on the fishing community

Market structure analysis of fish markets in coastal districts of West Bengal

West Bengal with three coastal viz., North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas and East Medinipur with 49 marine fish landing centres (3.9% of total marine fish landing centers of India), with about 81,067 fishermen families comprising of 3.69 lakh fisher folks (9.5% of the total fisher folk population of India) residing in 171 marine fishing villages (5.7% of the total marine fishing villages of India). Most of the fisher folk (about 70%) are traditional fishermen (Marine Fisheries Census, 2016). A major chunk (about 55,301 families) of the fisher population is socio-economically vulnerable as they are below poverty level and about 81% of the fishermen houses are Kutcha houses and 19% are Pucca houses. Despite Covid 19 lockdowns and the devastating Amphan cyclone, in the year 2020, the estimated marine fish landings was 2.60 lakh tonnes compared to 2.49 lakh tonnes in 2019 (CMFRI-Marine Fish Landings in India, 2020). The coastal districts South 24 Parganas and East Medinipur respectively contributed 49% and 51% of the total marine fish landings, with contribution of pelagic (49%), demersal (32%), crustacean (16%) and molluscan (3%) resources. About 4,014 mechanized crafts and 6,564 motorized and 476 non-motorized crafts are engaged in marine fishing activities in the state (Table 1). The mechanized and motorized sectors contributed 89.7% and 10.1% of the total landings respectively, while the non-motorized sector contributed only 0.2%. Although gill netters form 33% of the total fishing crafts in the state, major portion (about 60%) of the marine resources are landed by trawlers in West Bengal, mainly consisting of anchovies, penaeid shrimps, croakers, Bombay duck, pomfrets and Hilsa

Mapping of marketing channels and price ranges of commercially important finfish species in the coastal districts of West Bengal, India

This study was conducted to map the marketing channels and price ranges of some commercially important marine finfish species in two coastal districts of West Bengal. Nine commercially important marine finfish species were investigated. Different nodes were found to be involved in the marketing channel depending on the commercial value of the species, and a large gap was observed between the price in the retail market and the price received by the primary fisher. A large number of stakeholders are involved and find employment in the fish marketing chain as fishers, assemblers, processors, traders, wholesalers, retailers, transporters and loading and unloading workers. The price range of Bombay duck (Harpadon nephereus) was Rs. 25-50/kg at the auction centre level to Rs. 300-500/kg at the level of retailers in distant markets. For Silver pomfret (Pampus griseus), the price range had large fluctuations with Rs. 150-1000/kg at the auction centre level itself. When the commodity reaches the retailers in the distant markets, the price range was Rs. 350 to 1300/kg. The marketing chain for the flow of Orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides) was narrow with the nodes such as commission agents, assemblers, wholesalers and retailers, who play a major role in distributing the landings from the auction centre to domestic consumers. Processing and export nodes were not to be found. The price range was Rs. 200- 300/kg at the auction centre level to Rs. 400-500/kg at the retailer level in distant markets. The investigation exposed the range of actors required to bring the product from the landing centre through the different phases of distribution and delivery to final consumers. The value chain approach will be useful for the key actors such as fishers, managers and policymakers to streamline their operations cost-effectively, for increased earnings of the value chain actors and notable impacts on credit repayment

Risk assessment strategies in Indian agriculture — A disaggregate analysis

Despite progress in irrigation and technology, agriculture production and income are subject to large year-to-year fluctuations, playing havoc with farmers to invest in farming. These fluctuations also undermine the viability of the agriculture sector and its potential to contribute to economic growth as well as food and nutritional security. Most of the studies on Indian agriculture have looked at the instability in agricultural production at the aggregate level and have focused only on production (Hazell, 1982; Dev, 1987; Sharma et al., 2006). These studies suffer from two major limitations. One, they conceal the instability at a disaggregate level when different parts forming the aggregate follow different distributions. Two, the analysis of instability is restricted only to production and none of the studies have extended it to farm income; it is not seen whether fluctuations in price aggravate instability in production or reduce it, to mitigate the impact on farm income. Strategies to develop more appropriate risk management mechanisms require a better understanding of the nature and magnitude of risk at disaggregate levels, and by including prices. This paper proposes to fill this gap

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Not AvailableThis paper deals with the assessment of the technology development efficiency among the researchers in marine fisheries and identification of the influencing socio-personal characteristics. The study was conducted among 72 researchers of two premier fisheries research Institutions. The results revealed that the technology development efficiency index was 88.51 plus or minus 10.01. Among the 15 variables studied, the variables viz., communication behaviour, extent of linkages with extension and clientele systems, time utilization in research, participation in professional bodies, in-service training undergone, job satisfaction, job performance and technologies generated had positive and highly significant relationship with the technology development efficiency. The R super value indicated that all the variables taken together served as cause for explaining 57.60 % of variation in the efficiency level in the technology development process. The present results establish that the technology development process is efficient in marine fisheries.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableGender analysis along the agricultural value chain enhances our understanding about the roles performed by men and women in the value chain and in forward and backward linkages, their access to productive resources, opportunities available for value addition and benefit sharing, both as individuals and group enterprises. The gender roles in finger millet based value chains and the constraints faced by women in existing finger millet value chains in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Odisha have been documented in this study. Along the value chains, women were found only as farmers, petty traders or labourers in processing units. However, the entry points for women in finger millet value chain have been identified. The role of women in the value chain could be strengthened by mobilizing them into clusters, establishing millet processing units, and forming forward and backward linkages.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableThe underlying causes of gender inequality are often related to social, cultural and economic factors. Consequently, the access of women to education, technical training and productive resources is inadequate, particularly for those women in the rural areas and employed in the informal sector. Economic empowerment is a tool to bring about greater inclusion in society. With these concepts in mind, the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, funded a project in Kerala state that introduces edible oyster culture (Crassostrea madrasensis Preston) and its value-addition as a livelihood option for fisherwomen. Value addition of the oyster meat was also introduced to the women SHGs in this project. Value addition generate profits of INR 37.43, INR 97.49 and INR 106.37 from per kilogram of fish cutlets made, oyster meat and prawn pickle respectively. The aim of this paper is to highlight how needs based, location specific technology interventions can contribute to women’s empowerment in coastal areas in terms of personal, social, economic and community aspects.Not Availabl