Efficiency analysis of domestic fish marketing in north Bengal-A micro study

A fish marketing framework is viewed as efficient just when the fish in its fresh state is made accessible to the customers and circulated everywhere across the length and breadth of the country in the minimum time gap. An efficient marketing mechanism is also required to prevent glut by transferring the excess fish production in a district to outside the district. The market extension, integration, and expansion have registered a fillip in all the districts when compared to earlier times. This is supposed to have a favorable impact on the improvement of marketing efficiency in terms of the estimated value of efficiency parameters like gross marketing margin and the percentage share of fisherman in consumer’s rupee across the district. The dominance of middlemen and intermediaries in the marketing chain results in low market efficiency which causes the loss of welfare not only for the fishermen but for the consumers too. The data used in this study was mainly collected from secondary sources articles published in various journals and various annual issues of Hand Book of Fisheries Statistics published by the Department of Fisheries, Government of West Bengal. The data required for the study was mainly comprised of retail and wholesale prices of selected fish species. Finally, North Bengal, being gate way of fish-loving seven North Eastern and three Eastern states, besides adjoining countries like Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, can play a pivotal role in Fisheries Business Promotion in these states had the adequate institutional set up in place.