Constraints faced by the fish consumers and marketing agents in Tripura

The study was undertaken to identify potential scope for aquaculture in North Eastern state Tripura as most of the water resources are unutilised or underutilised. To provide an overall picture of the potential strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O) and threats (T) in aquaculture, SWOT analysis with the participation of farmers carried out for the state. The study also identified the major constraints in developing marketing of fishes and consumer satisfaction. To analyse the constraint faced by the fish consumer, rank based quotient were used. Constraints faced by the consumer were price level and fluctuation (87) followed by availability of fish (76), lack of fresh fish (69), non-availability of preferred fish (67), marketing hygiene (60) etc. Different constraints faced by the marketing functionaries were ranked by using Garrett ranking technique. Major constraint faced by the marketing functionaries of the state are high level of involvement of middlemen followed by high marketing cost, storage facilities and fluctuation in price etc. The study has suggested several measures to be undertaken for overall development of aquaculture sector in the state.