Marketing Structure and Price Behaviour of Major Indian Carps

The present study has identified three prominent marketing channels such as Producer-Retailer-Consumer (PRC), Producer-Vendor-Consumer (PVC) and Producer-Consumer (PC) through which fishes reach to the ultimate consumers. The producer's share in consumer rupee was the highest (100%) for the zero member channels, i.e. direct sale to consumer. It was observed that producers received higher share in the consumer rupee when wholesaler was not involved in fish trading. This indicates a very normal situation with greater marketing efficiency. It was found that no proper market shed was the major constraint identified with a quotient value of 93.40. The other constraints were lack of water supply, lack of storage facility, lack of toilet facilities, unhygienic condition of market, huge competition, high perishability, inconsistent supply of fish and high bargaining and lack of purchasing power with a quotient of 84.80, 79.20, 74.00, 70.00, 69.40, 67.80, 54.20 and 52.60, respectively. The demand for fish in rural areas of Manipur is increasing over time with the increase in purchasing power and standard of living. The present work concludes that though domestic fish marketing holds a huge potential, it is still highly unorganized and unregulated in Manipur.