Productivity and Marketing Issues of Fisheries in Arunachal Pradesh: An Analytical Study

By : Amitava Mitra , Kaju Nath

Page No: 26-34

Abstract
The economy of Arunachal Pradesh, the eastern most State of India, is predominantly agrarian with more than 60 per cent of workers engaged in agricultural and allied activities. Given the hilly topography (only around five per cent land is available for cultivation) and continuing dominance of low productivity under shifting cultivation, diversification of agriculture that raises the earnings of those dependent on agriculture remains one of the fundamental challenges. On the other hand, the State has untapped potential for fisheries in terms of many rivers, wetlands, ponds, lakes and area under rice-fish culture system. Hence, in this background the present paper makes an in-depth study of productivity and marketing structure of fisheries in the State of Arunachal Pradesh. The study was based on both secondary data and primary data which is collected from 300 sampled fish farmers of the State by applying multistage sampling technique. The study found that there are large variations of productivity of fishes in the surveyed districts in terms of pond size. The study also found that existing system of fish marketing was by and large inefficient.

Authors :
Amitava Mitra : Professor, Department of Economics, Rajiv Gandhi University (A Central University) Rono Hills, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh
Kaju Nath : Project Fellow, Department of Economics, Rajiv Gandhi University (A Central University) Rono Hills, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh.