PRESENT STATUS OF FISH MARKETING CHANNEL WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON WHOLESALE AND RETAIL MARKET IN SYLHET DISTRICT

Abstract

The survey was carried out on fish marketing system of Sylhet sadar upazila to find out the best marketing channels and also find out marketing cost and income of wholesalers and retailers in the study area. The present investigation was conducted from April to September, 2014 in five markets of Sylhet sadar. A total 120 fish traders were randomly selected for the study and data were collected through direct interview using a well-structured questionnaire. Focus group discussions (FGD) were carried out by a previously made checklist. Key informant interviews were made to cross-check the collected data from the fish traders. In Sylhet sadar a large number of people were involved in the fish marketing channel as bepari, aratdar, paiker, and retailer. In the study area it was found that the total marketing cost of wholesaler was estimated BDT 2.72/kg of fish. Transportation was the highest cost comprising 29.41% of the total marketing cost. The second highest cost component was the icing comprising 25.73% of total marketing cost and the lowest was security comprising 4.41% of the total marketing cost. The total marketing cost of retailer in the study area was estimated BDT 2.03/kg of fish. Icing was the highest cost comprising 29.55% of the total marketing cost. Transportation was the second highest 27.09% of total marketing cost and the lowest electricity comprising 5.91% of the total marketing cost. It was observed that under market channel-I is the highest profitable than channel-II and channel-III. Traders faced numbers of problems such as security, electricity, icing, market toll, personal expense, transportation etc. To improve the fish marketing it is essential to establishment of ice factory, improvement of fish transport facilities and and introduction of fish quality control measures.