Fish consumption study at a household level in Dir Lower, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

Fishes are generally considered as cheap sources of protein and good quality nutrition for human consumption. A survey was conducted in District Dir Lower in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. The survey was conducted through a properly structured questionnaire from March 13th to June 2nd, 2019 to determine the consumption of fish (i.e. Mahasheer, trout, catfish, Common Carp, Rohu, etc.) according to in educational levels, gender, per capita, based on species liking, size, time duration, the order of preference given by the people. The current survey results showed that fish consumption had no relation to the educational level because illiterate and educational males consumed 75.51 and 58.53% fish respectively. Similarly, the percentage for illiterate female was 66.67% and educational female was 55.17%. The per head consumption for lower class was 0.49 kg per year, followed by middle class 0.46 kg then upper class 0.37 kg per year. The percentage of persons consumed fish per month was 46.25% while it was only 8% a year. The people who avoided fish for its spines and the high cost were 50.75 and 31.25% respectively. It was observed that people know that fish eating can increase the eyesight, helps in high blood pressure and reduces the cardiac disease were 46.75, 13.25 and 25% respectively. It has been concluded that per head consumption was greater for the lower class followed by the middle and upper class. Most people of the district Lower Dir consume fish once a month while few people consume fish occasionally. The fish consumption has no relation with educational level because illiterate people consume more fish than educated people.