Socio-economic status of fish farmers in tripura, india

Fisheries sector plays a very important role in socio-economic development of the state of Tripura. In spite of different measures being taken by the Government of Tripura to make the state fish self-sufficient, a large amount of fish are still being imported from neighbouring states and Bangladesh. This indicates existence of positive gap between demand and supply which can be filled up if appropriate policy measure towards strengthening the condition of fishermen is undertaken. Any policy measure to be successful needs a clear understanding of the status of its stakeholders. The fish farmers are the key stakeholders of fisheries sector. Hence, to address the issues related to development of fisheries sector of the state, the status of fish farmers of the state needs to be understood. Present study is an effort towards this direction. Using multi-stage random sampling 256 farmers are selected from two major fish producing districts of the state for the present study. The study reveals that fish farmers in the state are economically poor with average per capita annual income (Rs. 24,940/-) significantly lower than the average per capita annual income of the state as a whole (Rs. 69,705/-). Though the literacy rate among the farmers and their spouses are reasonably good (90%) but overall level of education is found to be very poor with majority having only secondary level of education. Majority of the farmers (55%) is found to be residing in the houses of kachha structure, though the basic amenities like drinking water facility, electricity, defecation etc is found to be reasonably good. The study, after examining all the indicators, comes to the conclusion that overall situation of the fish farmer stakeholders of the state is miserable which needs to be improved with appropriate policy initiatives.