Economics and marketing of dry fish production in Thoothukudi District, Tamil Nadu, India

The present study attempted to evaluate the economics and marketing of dry fish production in Thoothukudi District of Tamil Nadu, India. The information on various aspects of the dry fish enterprise was collected through random sampling of 29 dry fish producers in a pre-structured interview schedule. The results indicated that 50% of the total dry fish produced (in terms of quantity) was contributed by sardines and anchovies. However, seer fishes fetched a premium market price of ₹550 kg-1 followed by carangids (₹125 kg-1) and belonids (₹115 kg-1). Dry fish production was found to be a profitable business with an internal rate of returns (IRR) of 75% and simple rate of returns (SRR) of 43.48% respectively with a net profit margin of ₹2258.83 week-1. The study also suggests that the dry fishes reached the consumers by way of three marketing channel viz., channel 1 (producer to consumer) channel 2 (producer, middleman and consumer) and channel 3 (producer, wholesaler, middleman and consumer). Channel 1 was found the most efficient marketing channel over channel 2. The cost of raw materials, transportation, packaging and marketing margin were found to be the key factors that influences and decides the income of the dry fish producers and all the factors exhibited statistical significance at 0.05 level