An analytical study on transformation of tribals through fish collection cooperative societies in southern Rajasthan
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Date
2008
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MPUAT, Udaipur
Abstract
The state of Rajasthan is endowed with ample of fresh water resources. Presently over 3.3 lakh hectares area of fresh water is available in form of lakes, reservoirs, rivers and canals for aquaculture. The southern Rajasthan including Udaipur, Banswara, Dungarpur and Chittorgarh districts has ample number of water bodies, where fish culture and capture activities are performed by the fishermen. The Jaisamand lake and Mahi Bajaj Sagar dam are the only large water bodies where fish collection operations are being done through cooperative society members. These societies have been functioning for more than 15 years and contributing to the income and generating employment among its members. Considering these facts the present study was undertaken with following specific objectives :
1. To study the structure and functioning of fish collection cooperative societies in the study area.
2. To assess the knowledge level of respondents about fish collection technology.
3. To study the socio-economic empowerment of tribals on account of membership in the society.
4. To find out the constraints faced by the farmers in collection of fish and adoption of technology.
5. To ascertain the association of selected variables i.e. age, education, cosmopoliteness, economic motivation, risk orientation ,extension contacts and knowledge with socio-economic empowerment of respondents on account of membership in the society.
6. To analyse the successful and failure cases of fish collection cooperative societies in the study area.
* Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Extension Education, Rajasthan college of Agriculture, Udaipur
** Assistant Prof., Department of Extension Education, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Udaipur
The present study was conducted in Udaipur and Banswara districts of Rajasthan. These districts were selected purposively for the present investigation because Jaisamand and Mahi dam are only large water bodies in Udaipur and Banswara district respectively, where fish collection activities are being performed through well organized cooperative societies. There are total 10 and 12 fish collection cooperative societies functioning in the periphery of Mahi dam and Jaisamand lake, respectively. Out of which four societies from each water reservoir were selected on the basis of maximum number of registered members in the society. For selection of respondents, a comprehensive list of registered members in each identified fish collection cooperative societies was prepared with the help of personnel of state fisheries department and RTDACF. On the basis of list, 25 members were selected on random basis from each identified society. Thus, in all 200 fishermen were included for present investigation. Data were collected from the selected respondents by face to face interview technique with the help of structured schedule. Thereafter, collected data were classified, tabulated and statistically analysed, which lead to following conclusions.
1. It was found that majority of the respondents belonged to the age group of 35 to 48 years, literate upto primary level and medium level of income per annum. Further, majority of the fish farmers had small land holding, had large family size and joint family type. Most of them had medium level of cosmopolite ness, economic motivation, risk orientation and exposure to extension contacts.
2. Majority of the respondents had medium level of knowledge regarding improved fish collection technology. It was further noted that the extent of knowledge in fishermen of Jaisamand lake was 19.25 to 97.00 per cent, whereas, in Mahi dam fishermen extent of knowledge was observed to be from 16.25 to 88.00 per cent in general aspects of fish collection technology. The mean per cent score of Jaisamand fishermen in practices namely fish breeding and rearing, fishing aspects and transportation and marketing was 54.68, 62.11 and 60.37 respectively. However, in case of respondents from Mahi dam, the recorded MPS of the above aspects was 50.81, 57.17 and 58.25 respectively. It means that fishermen of Jaisamand lake had more knowledge than Mahi dam fishermen about fish collection technology. It was also found that there was a significant difference in knowledge between Jaisamand and Mahi dam fishermen regarding fish collection technology.
3. The study indicated that majority of the respondents possessed medium and above medium level of socio-economic empowerment on account of membership in the society. It was noted that change to great extent was found in the social aspects namely interest and attitude has developed towards social development activities, leadership qualities developed, participation in social-cultural activities and experience and confidence increased due to interaction with fellow members and training received. It was also found that change to great extent in case of economic benefits were found in items like, get off from worries of every day’s employment and demand of fish for family was fulfilled. It was observed that by comparing the social and economic benefits of Jaisamand and Mahi dam fish farmers it was found that there exists significant difference in most of the aspects. Further, most of the respondents had their income from fishing activities between 20,000 to 35,000 per annum.
4. The study indicated that more than half of the fishermen faced medium level of constraints. It was further found that the major constraints causing serious concern to them in adoption of fish collection technology were lack of technical knowledge about fishing, lack of preservation and curing facilities, poor economic condition of the fishermen, ignorance of different sources of credit, ignorance of rules and regulations, illegal fish procurement by the dominant sections of the society, lack of updated information about price and lack of marketing education.
5. It was found that personal characteristics of the respondents viz., age, risk orientation and knowledge were not significantly associated with the socio-economic empowerment of the respondents. It was further observed that education, cosmopoliteness, economic motivation and extension contacts were associated with the socio-economic empowerment of the respondents on account of membership in the society.
Description
An analytical study on transformation of tribals through fish collection cooperative societies in southern Rajasthan
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Citation
Sharma and Sharma, 2008