Market efficiency as indicators of fish market along the middle stretch of River Ganga, India

Abstract

The fish market in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, is not formally organised. Rather, it permeates from a direct fisher market to a wholesale market. Fish caught from the River Ganga are distributed through many intermediaries and are transported to farther regions like Guwahati and Kolkata in the east. The objective of the study is to assess market efficiency and, with this assessment, make recommendations that can be used to improve the livelihoods of the fishers. We accomplish this by investigating market efficiency indicators including production capacity of the area, Percent Share of Fisher in the Consumer's Money, and price stability of fish markets in different districts (including Bulandshahr, Farrukhabad, Kanpur, Fatehpur, Prayagraj and Varanasi). These are the districts that are located on the bank of the River Ganga in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The study consists of interviews with fishers, wholesalers, vendors, auctioneers, and consumers. The study examines 9 wholesalers, 9 retail markets and 1 direct fisher market. The demographic variables of fish sellers viz. age, education, caste, family size, experience and occupation are also studied. Descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation are used for nominal variables to measure and test conceptions and misconceptions of the fish market. Fish selling is carried out through fish market channels including 220 middlemen, 249 retailers, 48 wholesalers, and 72 auctioneers. Together, these individuals make up the channel structure, channel strategy, and channel performance. The high number of middlemen demonstrates that the market structure is inefficient. Higher Percent Share of Fisher in the Consumer's Money was observed for fishes like Labeo rohita (65.8%), Cirrhinus Mrigala (64%), and Labeo Calbasu (64.3%). The average Percent Share of Fisher in the Consumer's Money is 54% and shows the fishers earn little more than half of the revenue generated. The study shows that high-value fish have less price stability and low-value fish have high price stability across the fish market channel, respectively. Our investigation recommends reducing the number of market channels with the application of modern infrastructure in order to increase the quality of products received by the consumer and to increase fisher share in consumer's money.