Arpita Sharma

Gender Perspectives in Adoption of Technological Practices by Fishers and Fish Farmers in Tripura

With the development of institutionalized form of income and the growing importance of fisheries in the agricultural development of Tripura, the role of women in socio-economic and cultural-political relationships has gained importance over time. Fisheries like other crops are also a function of adoption level of a technology. The study is based on a total of 180 fishers consisting 30 women and 30 men respondents that were randomly selected from each of the three major sectors, viz. aquaculture, reservoir and fish processing. For each sector, identified fisheries technologies were selected for the study. Factor analysis was carried out for identification of relationships between technologies and multiple regression analysis was performed to identify the factors that determined the adoption level. Subsector-wise analysis was also performed. The study has indicated commonality and divergence in the attitude between women and men fishers in respect of technology adoption. Thus, gender perspective is clearly visible in adoption of technological practices in Tripura.The paper has studied the status of fish food security in India — production across sectors, export growth — analysing price realization in the domestic and export markets. The study has derived macro-economic estimates using primary and secondary data on fish production, consumption, distribution and exports on a spatio-temporal platform. The study has revealed that contrary to the classic demand theory, the willingness to pay a higher price does exist among the urban consumers. The decomposition analysis has indicated that export value realization is primarily due to “quantity effect” not by “price effect”. The price comparison of exported fish species has indicated higher prices in domestic than export market. The study has revealed significant deleterious fish demand-supply mismatch in domestic market and has advocated for government interventions in regulating fish exports. The paper has suggested adoption of concerted efforts for augmenting domestic fish consumption of high-value fishes through conducting awareness programmes for the masses.

INFORMATION NEEDS OF FARM WOMEN OF UTTARAKHAND

Farm women in Uttarakhand play an important role in managing different kinds of farming and home affairs. Information for women involved in an enterprise is important to understand the production process and the economics of production. A sample of 100 farm women was selected using Simple Random Sampling technique. The survey research design was used for data collection. Data were also collected through interview schedule. Data were analyzed using quantitative approaches. Results show that the information needs of farm women are mostly occupation driven. Farm women were found to have a need for information about dairy farming as also for home management. Most of the farm women depend on the friends, husband, neighbors and other native sources like local leaders and educated people for their information needs. Thus, their primary and most important sources of information are friends, husband, neighbors and other native sources.