FISH FARMING AND MARKETING SYSTEM IN BARA DISTRICT, NEPAL

Abstract

Bara district is one of the leading fish producing district of Nepal that lies in Madhesh Province in South- Central Nepal. Fish produced in Bara is marketed to distant markets along with the local market. However, the marketing system, actors in fish market and their benefits is studied too less. Thus, present study was carried out to understand and analyze the marketing system of fish produced in Bara district. The study was done by survey using questionnaire. A total of 76 farmers along with 30 traders were selected randomly for the survey. In present study area, mainly males (98.7%) were involved in fish farming with little involvement of females as entrepreneur. The major culture system followed is carp polyculture with some changes to produce huge volume of Chaddi. Chaddi fish includes the production and marketing of advanced fingerlings (30-50 g size) of Rohu and Mrigal. Different actors in fish marketing channel included farmer, wholesalers, and retailers. Altogether four different types of marketing channel were found in present study. Chaddi fish produced in study area is mainly exported to larger markets like Kathmandu, Pokhara, and Chitwan while local market is dominated by silver carp due to its comparatively lower price. Price of fish at different stages of market depends on size as well as fish species. The general trend was that, larger the fish higher price it fetches in market. Wholesalers get a profit of around 4-8% while retailers get about 9-16% profit, but due to dhalta system, the net profit is higher. According to dhalta system, farmers have to provide 30% more fish as compensation to traders as fish are weighed live. Traders were found to use different types of transportation media from pickup vans, motorbike as well as cycle. Some of the traders also use ice for the storage of surplus fish. Different constraints in fish marketing included low market price, dhalta system in trade, lack of structured market and storage facilities, transportation issue and Indian market dependence among which low market price is most prevalent problem.