Post-harvest losses at various marketing channels in inland fisheries

Abstract

An attempt has been made in this study to assess the post harvest fish losses at various marketing channels in inland fisheries sector. The study was conducted in five field centres viz., Kakinada, Rajahmundry, Eluru, Akiveedu and Bhimavaram, in East and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh. The samples of respondents were selected using two-stage sampling, simple random sampling without replacement and stratified random sampling methods. Data from the selected respondents were collected at weekly intervals through interview method, using structured interview schedules. The percentage losses were found to be 0.29 at packaging centres, 0.19 to 1.57 at pre-processing units, 0.15 to 0.54 at processing units, 1.42 to 10.98 at wholesale markets, 2.96 at retail markets, 4.10 to 5.52 at the level of vendors and 2.22 at live fish transportation centres. The causes have also been discussed in the light of this study.