Fisheries Marketing Systems and Consumer Preferences in Puttalam District Sri-Lanka.
Abstract
This is one of a series of working papers based on field research that took place in Sri Lanka during December and January 1998, presented as part of a wide-ranging participatory situation analysis. The working papers are interim components of Project R7064, undertaken in Sri Lanka and Southern India, which is of 3 years duration (1999-2002) and aims to investigate the potential for integrated aquaculture options within small-scale farmer managed irrigation systems.
The aim of this study was to understand the current and historic market situation for inland fish and its substitutes in order to identify which of the various production opportunities presented by the seasonal tank resource might have greatest relevance for marginal communities in the Dry-zone. Regional and sub-regional market networks for fish and meat products were investigated, ranking and scoring exercises used to characterise consumer demand in rain-fed areas of North West Province and secondary data sources were used to assess historic patterns of demand and supply.
The contents are as follows:
1 Introduction
2 Methodology
3 Fisheries production, demand and supply in Sri Lanka
4 Historic trends in prices of fish and meat substitutes.
5 Government intervention in the marketplace
6 The transport network
6.1 The cold chain
7 Market space: sub-regional and regional markets.
7.1 Market organization at the regional level; the example of Kandy
7.2 The sub-regional marketing network for inland fish; Northwest Province
8 Activities of fisherman's co-operatives
9 Seasonal fluctuations in supply and demand
10 Middlemen/producer margins
11 Weekly polas and dried fish marketing
11.1 Gender and dried fish marketing
12 Fish preferences in study villages of Puttalam and Kurunegala Districts
12.1 Religious and cultural perceptions towards fish and meat consumption
12.2 Consumption patterns for fresh fish and animal protein substitutes
12.3 Inland fish preferences
13 Market orientation amongst farmers
14 Conclusions
15 Future research recommendations
Citation
Fisheries Marketing Systems and Consumer Preferences in Puttalam District Sri-Lanka. Working Paper SL1.4, University of Stirling, UK, 57 pp.
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