The Role of Local Food in Maldives Tourism - Scholarly Commons ...

Table 6. 4 Ability to obtain the right quality of products
Suppliers N
Mean
Frequency scale
Very Extremely
easy difficult
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Fishermen 12 2.67 4 2 2 3 - 1 -
Marine farmers 9 5.22 - 1 1 1 1 2 3
Farmers 10 3.80 2 1 2 - 2 3 -
Fruit growers 11 3.09 3 3 1 1 - 3 -
Snack suppliers 9 3.55 1 3 2 - - 2 1
Coconut growers 9 3.11 1 4 1 1 - 2 -
Marine farming is a new concept and is not a well developed sector in the Maldives.
This is evident from the fact that only one of the operators worked with marine farmers.
In addition, out of the nine respondents that have answered the question on the ability to
purchase the right quality of products from this group, six responses are on the higher
end of the scale. This shows that it is difficult to source the right quality of products
from them. A similar result is present for the ability to source supply to meet demand
(Table 6.5). The only marine farming conducted in the Maldives is the culture of
grouper. Fishing for reef fish varieties such as grouper became a commercial fishery
activity only after the inception of tourism during the 1970s due to increased demand.
By 1990s, grouper became an export fishery segment focused on Far Eastern countries
and the grouper fishery became an alternative source of income for fishermen in outer
atolls. In 2004, it was discovered by Maldives’ Marine Research Centre (MRC) that
grouper were heavily fished and catch rates had declined. MRC took the initiative to
culture groupers in floating cages as a pilot project in 2005 (MRC, 2008). The only
other ongoing activity is the UNDP funded pearl culture, also run by MRC. Recently
MIFCO announced their interest in venturing into aqua culture and mariculture
activities in the near future (MIFCO, 2009).
The ability to source sufficient quantity from suppliers is illustrated in Table 6.5. The
table indicates that the lowest mean score is for fishermen (3.08) hence it is easiest to
source supply from fishermen. Again, the worst performing group of suppliers is marine
farmers with the highest mean score of 5.38. Therefore, the ability to obtain the right
quantity of products is most difficult from marine farmers. For fruit growers the mean is
3.67 and for coconut growers it is 3.78, hence it is comparatively easy to source the
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