Fish Consumers’ Behaviour at Selected Fish Markets of Tripura, India

Abstract

Knowledge on preference for fish is important for producers and traders at micro-economic level and also for policy makers and planners at macro- economic level. An attempt has been made to analyse the consumers’ preference for fish in Tripura. One hundred and sixty fish consumers were randomly selected from four wholesale-cum- retail fish markets. The frequency, percentage analysis and Rank Based Quotient (RBQ) techniques were used to analyse consumers’ preferences and constraints. Highest preference was for freshwater local fishes (96.87% of the consumers). Among the species, 42% of consumers preferred rohu, 26% preferred catla and remaining 32% showed their preferences towards other fishes like mrigal, hilsa, pabda, carpio and tilapia. It was observed that 45% of the consumers was in the age group of 35-45 years and 53.75% had a family size of 5-7 members. Purchasing of fish was done mainly by the male members of the family (86.87%). Price (level & fluctuation) is the major constraint faced by the consumers of the state followed by availability of fish, lack of fresh fish, non availability of preferred species and lack of hygiene.