Does fishing venture matter for reducing post-harvest loss? Empirical evidence from Bangladesh

Abstract

The study was conducted to estimate the post-harvest loss (PHL) of inland capture fisheries in Bangladesh based on the fishing venture i.e., sole proprietorship, partnership and cooperatives using Questionnaire Loss Assessment Method (QLAM). A total of 1339 fishermen were selected using stratified random sampling where 792, 485, and 62 were involved in the sole proprietorship, partnership, and cooperatives types of fishing venture respectively. The data were collected from thirty-nine districts across six divisions through the direct interview method covering 92 fish species. The results indicated that Ashar (June–July) to Agrahayon (November–December) was the peak fishing period for every fishing venture. The study revealed that the high volumes of fishes were caught from haor for partnership and cooperatives while river was for sole proprietorship. The study accounted lower PHL for cooperatives than that of sole proprietorship and partnership and found significance differences among them from Tukey's pairwise test. The estimated PHL was higher for Puti (Puntius chola) in sole proprietorship and partnership whereas Tengra (Gagata cenia) in cooperatives venture. The study suggests to expand the cooperatives fishing ventures widely in Bangladesh where the predominant factors (i.e., longer harvesting duration, delaying in marketing the fishes and temperature, excess supply, and etc.) of causing PHL in this venture should be taken under consideration.