Value Chain Analysis of Fishery in Puri and Ganjam District of Orissa

Draft Report on “Fishery Supply Chain”
Confidential
In all the villages where women head loaders operate, it was found that the valued product are out
of their reach and they are in the trade for average value to low value products. The major
competition in this segment of the value chain comes from the cycle traders. This is because the
product segment for both of them is same.
The investments normally do not exceed Rs.300 to 500 on a daily basis with an average income
of Rs.100 to 150 accruing from the venture daily. The actor has to arrange for the ice required for
the trade and the arrangement for the doorstep delivery of the goods to the final consumers.
Cycle vendors
Bicycle fish vendors are prevalent segment in majority of the landing centers especially in Puri
district. In Ganjam district the prevalence of this actor is limited to the bigger landing centers. The
cycle traders come from different villages, and are involved in both procurement and sale of fish
individually. They form one of the large groups in the value chain but they are highly unorganized.
As a consequence they are not the dominant players of the value chain even though the quantum
of purchases made by them collectively is rather high.
It was found during the primary investigation in Puri and Ganjam district that average to low quality
fish are procured by them, as they cannot compete on price for the high to export quality product
in the auction. The markets for these vendors are the local villages, haats, daily fish market and
door-to-door selling. The player makes arrangement for the transportation and icing for the
procurement.
The actor of this segment normally makes purchase of an average of 30-40 kg per day of mixed
species, normally 2 to 3 species, with the investment of Rs. 800 to Rs. 1000. The average income
of Rs.250 to 300 accrues to the actor on a daily basis from this venture.
Petty sellers trading fish
These were amongst the poorest people in fishing villages who do not own boat or net and are
incapable of taking up fishing on their own. This group mainly comprises of old age people. They
collect fish in low quantity from the boat landing at the coast throughout the day and then sell the
collection to the buyers, which normally for them are the bicycle vendors or the women head
loaders.
This collection of fish from the boats is without of any charges from the fisherman. This section of
the community is extremely vulnerable and poor.
People working as fish packers at the landing centers and in shrimp processing industries
The commission agents of the business houses and the exporters employ workers to collect, sort,
grade and pack shrimp and high-end fish for onward transport to the processing unit. At the
processing factories, women are normally employed for processing operations.
The processing units employ normally about 50 to 80 people, which can go up with the size of
operation, for sorting, grading, peeling and packing. It came out during the interview of the
processing unit owners that they preferred to employ girls from southern states initially because
they were considered adept at tasks such as sorting, grading and peeling, but now the
employment scenario has changed in favour of the locally available manpower.
At the landing center and in the various markets there are also head-loaders who move fish
between traders or for loading, unloading and packaging operation. They also provide service in
terms of manpower to the value chain responsible for moving goods in the ‘productionconsumption
chain’ from one place to other.
Submitted by -: NiMble System Pvt. Ltd.
Submitted to -: OXFAM (India) Trust 49