Marketing Efficiency of Fresh Fish Trade in Cochin and BTeraval

Fishery Tecilnolopj
2001, Vol. 38(2) pp : 129 - 132
Marketing Efficiency of Fresh Fish Trade in
Cochin and BTeraval
Nikita Gopal, V. Annamalai, M.P. Remesan and Prem Kumar
Central Institute of Fisheries Technology
Mntsynpt~ri P.O., Cocizin - 682 029, Indi,o.
Price spread is an important index of marketing efficiency. This study reports the price
spread between landing centres, wholesale and retail markets in Cochin (Kerala) and Veraval
(Gujarat) for important varieties of fish. The price spread is very high both in wholesale
and retail markets. While in wholesale market the price spread ranged from 1.11% to 46%,
it was as high as 471% in the retail rnarket at Veraval and 1410% at Cochin. The range
of price spread was found to be very high during the periods of low price and high catch,
and low during high price and low catch season. The benefit of high price spread accrue
to the middlemen, depriving both the consumer and the fishermen of a fair price.
Key words: Price spread, marketing channel, marketing intermediaries, landing centre,
holesa sale market, retail market
The price spread, measured as the
difference 'between the price paid by the
consumer and the price received by the
fishermen, is an important index of marketing
efficiency as well as the fairness with
which the market treats the consumer and
the producer. An efficient and fair market
is characterized by a quantum of price
spread that is equivalent to the marketing
costs including the cost of storage, transport,
display, handling, package, the opportunity
cost of marketing functionaries and the
transaction capital. Studies have been carried
out on the marketing efficiency in fish trade
in Uttar Pradesh (Katiha & Chandra, 1990)
and Tamil Nadu (Sathiadas & Panikkar,
1988). The study of marketing margins is of
special significance in fisheries for the reason
that fish prices fluctuate far more drastically
than the price of manufactured goods. While
most manufactured consumer goods show a
steady upward movement, fish prices show
a cyclical upward movement. The short
period cycles of very high and low price for
fish allow enough room for marketing
intermediaries to exploit both the fishermen
and the consumer, rendering the market
inefficient and unfair. Hence, a systematic
inv~sti~ation of this asvect is of imvortanca
Materials and Methods
With a view to estimate the price spread
in fish markets of Cochin (Kerala) and
Veraval (Gujarat), primary data were collected
from landing centres, wholesale and
retail markets for major species of fish
marketed in these localities. Data were
collected over a period of two years from
1998 to 1999, covering all the seasons. The
data collection was carried out twice a week
from landing centers at Veraval and Cochin
Fisheries Harbour and the corresponding
retail markets at Cochin and Veraval. In
addition, the major beach landing centres of
Cochin such as Kamalakadavu and Vypin
were covered once a week. Data for the first
and last days of the week were not included,
so as to avoid abnormalities in price
formation.
Price spread reported in the study
covered imwortant table varieties of fish such
as sardine, mackerel, seer fish, pornfret,
threadfin bream, shark, tuna, thread fish,
wolf herring, perch and catfish
Results and Discussion

to understand the profile of farmers and
their relationship tourards training needs.
Data were collected by employing a wellstructured
and pre-tested interview schedule.
Frequency distribution, mean, percentage,
correlation analysis and t tests were
used for analysis and interpretation.
Results and Discussion
The findings of the study regarding the
profile of the farmers are presented in Table
1. It maybe seen that most of the respondents
were less than 50 years of age and had
collegiate and above level of educational
status. The innovative nature of the enterprise
could have attracted young and highly
educated peopie. Majority of the respondents
(66.67%) had other occupations in addition
to shrimp farming and th~s may be due to
the risk Ad cost intensive nature of shrimp
enterprise. About 80% of respondents had
farm size of less than 4 ha. The experience
of the respondents varied from 2 to 9 years.
Almost all the farmers were practising
modified extensive farming of Penaet~s
monodon with 5-6 nos. of post larvae per m2
The annual income of the respondents varied
from Rs. 30,000 to 5,00,000 because of their
differential occupations. Majority of the
respondents (60%) availed credit from banks
or private money lenders.
Farmers were aware of extension agencies
of concerned organizations. However,
majority of them had limited contacts with
these agencies. Most of the respondents had
medium to high degree of mass media
exposure. They were' of the opinion that
aquacultural programmes were very rare in
mass media channels. The respondents were
found to be high risk takers (80%), exhibited
high degree of scientific orientation (70%)
and economic motivation (73.33%). Fellow
farmers and feed company representatives
were the prime sources of information.
Meeran & Jayaseelan (1999), while studying
socio-personal, socio-economic and sociopsychological
profile of shrimp farmers,
rpnnrtprl qimi!nr finriinuq
Table 1. Sono-personal profile of shrimp farmers
Variables
56 of farmers (N=30)
Age
Less than 50 years 56.67
50 years & above 43.33
Education
SSLC/H.Sc. 33.33
Graduates and above 66.67
Occupation
Aquaculture alone
Aquaculture - others
Farm size
Up to 4 ha
Above 4 ha
Farming experience
Up to to years
Above 5 years
Type of farming
Modified extensive type
Annual income
Less than Rs. 25,000
Above Rs. 25,000
Credit orientation
Obtained
Not obtained
Extension agency contact
Low
Medium
High
Mass media eqosure
Low
Medium
High
Social participation
Low
Medium
High
Risk orientation
Low
Medium
High
Scientific orientation
Low
1O.W
Medium 20.00
High 70.00
Economic motivation
Low 6.67
Medium 20.00
Hign 73.33
The training needs of shrimp farmers in
the order of ranking are presented in Table
2. It was noticed that 90% of the respondents
expressed their need to have training on

TRAIhXiVG IGEEDS OF SHNMP FARMERS
Table 2 Training nerds of s!ulmp farmers
Training needs
% of farmers Rank
(N=30)
Health management 90.W 1
Recent advances in
shrimp farming 7444 2
Pond management (soil,
water quality, etc.) 6556 3
Seed se!ection and stocking 63.33 4
Pond preparation 61.11 5
Feed management 52 21 6
Sustainable shnmp farrmng 48.89 7
Group farming/cooperative farming 48.89 8
S~te selection and farm con.s:ruction 45 56 9
Socio-economics, environmental
consequences of shrimp farming 40.00 10
are the major threat to shrimp fanning. The
farmers showed keen interest to know the
ways to prevent the occurrence of diseases,
easy ways to detect them and methods of
effective disease control. About three-fourth
of the respondents (74.44%) desired to be
informed of recent advances in shrimp
farming. About 65% of respondents opined
that they needed training on pond management,
especially regarding soil and water
quality conditions, water exchange, application
of probiotics, etc. This may be due to
their understanding that optimum soil and
water conditions are critical for a successful
crop.
Majority of the respondents (63.33%)
wanted training in identification of quality
seed, seed testing and stocking. Farmers
were of the view that getting good quality
seed is one of the major constraints. The
need for acquiring the knowledge in
identification and detection of healthy seed
was also felt and expressed. More than half
of the respondents (61.11%) desired to have
training & pond preparation, especially on
application of correct dose of inputs, proper
blooming, optimum levels of various
parameters, etc. About half of the
respondents (52.2276) desired to have training
in feed management - identification of
good quality feeds, recommended feeding
major expenditure in shrimp farming is on
feed and the farmers are for its judicious
use.
h'early half of the respondents required
training on sustainable shrimp production
including every step from site selection to
post harvest management. Equal percentage
of farmers were of the view that shrimp
farmers need to be educated on group
h g . About half of the respondents
expressed their desire to be educated on
proper site selection and appropriate method
of farm construction. Significant number of
farmers desired to have training on the
social, economic and environmental consequences
of shrimp farming, so that they can
be prudent enough to make efforts to
minimize the unfavourable consequences.
To study the nature of relationship
between the personal attributes of shrimp
farmers and their training needs, a correlation
analysis was carried out. The results of
correlation analysis (Table 3) have clearly
shown that there is no sigruficant relationship
between them. Fourteen variables were
taken for analysis and none of the attributes
was significantly related. Further, the
attributes like age, education and farm size
Table 3. Relationship between personal attributes and
training needs of shrimp farmers
Personal attributes
Age
Education
Occupation
Farm size
Fanning expenence
Type of farrmng
Credit orlentatlon
Annual income
Mass med~a exposure
Extension agency contact
Social partinpation
Risk onentation
Scienhhc onentahon
Economc mohvahon
Con: Coeff (I)

were negatively related. It was proved that
shrimp farmers, irrespective of their social,
economic and psychological standing, were
eager to acquire necessary knowledge and
skills for obtaining successful crops on a
long-term sustainable basis.
It could be inferred from the above
findings that most of the shrimp farmers
opted for training in one or the other aspect
of shrimp farming. Health management,
seed quality detection, pond management
and recent advances in aquaculture were the
major training needs identified. It is suggested
that training camps should be
organized on the identified aspects at field
level with appropriate training modules in
simple local language, on learning by doing
basis. The transfer of technology and human
resources development programmes of the
research organizations, promotional agencies
and extension activities of the State
fisheries departments may be intensified
incorporating these training needs.
The authors are grateful to Dr. G.R.M. Rao,
Director, CIB.4 for his constant guidance and encouragement.
They are also thankful to Dr. hl. Knshnan,
Senior Scientist and Dr. T. Ravishankar, Scientist, for
their valuable suggestions in preparing this manuscript.
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