Socio-economic status of traditional fisherfolk in kerala - a study in Thiruvanathapuram District
Loading...
Files
Date
1997
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Vellayani
Abstract
The study, "Socio-economic status of traditional fisherfolk in Kerala - A study in Thiruvananthapuram district" was undertaken with the following objectives. 1. To understand the present socio-economic status of the traditional fisherfolk in Kerala with particular emphasis on the income and expenditure pattern of the community concerned. 2. To analyse the levels of living of the fisherfolk with respect to food intake, shelter, educational status and sanitary conditions. Thiruvananthapuram, which is one of the districts with the highest fishermen population in the State, was selected for the study. From Thiruvananthapuram district Vizhinjam and Anjuthengu villages were selected due to their larger size compared to the other fishing villages and variation in fishing activity. A sample size of 50 traditional fisherfolk families from each village was selected using stratified random sampling technique, taking motorised and non-motorised fisherfolk families as two strata. A well structured and pre-tested questionnaire, was used for collecting data from the selected sample households. Data collected was analysed using suitable statistical tools such as mean, percentage analysis, correlation coefficient and regression analysis. The variables used in the study included general information on households, educational level, employment status, income and expenditure pattern, extent of credit availed and indebtedness, food intake, health status, housing conditions, social participation and other relevant characteristics which are useful in measuring the socio- economic status of a household. The study revealed that the average family size of the fisherfolk was 5.19. It was 5.58 in Vizhinjam village and 4.8 in Anjuthengu village. It was also seen that the majority of the fishermen under study were in the age group of 21-35 years. The female to male ratio was found to be 784 females for 1000 males. Landless fisherfolk families constituted 37 per cent and among land owners 55 per cent had less than 5 cents of land. The literacy rate of the fisherfolk was found to be 63 per cent in which males had a lower literacy rate (53 %) than females (68 %). It was noted that about 85 per cent of the workforce in the study area were engaged in fishing and about 14.41 per cent were engaged in fish vending. The average monthly income of a fisherfolk family was found to be Rs. 1918.94. In Vizhinjarn village it worked out to be Rs. 2160.20 as against Rs. 1677.68 in Anjuthengu village. Of the total monthly household expenditure, 62.52 % was spent on food, 12.52 % on arrack and 8.5 % on fuel and lighting. The percentage expenditure on betel chewing, clothing, medicinal purposes and recreation were 7.58 %, 4.24 %,2.11 % and l. 92 % respectively. The expenditure on education was observed to be very meager. It was revealed from the study that the fisherfolk were mainly utilising money lenders for availing credit. The majority of the loans availed were used for production purposes such as the purchase of fishing equipment (54%) and fish vending (5.3%). About 19.5 % of loans were used for marriage purposes and the rest for home consumption and for other purposes. The household food consumption pattern showed that the cereal food consumption was 45% of the total requirement. They consumed large quantities of fish. It was also observed that the intake of vegetables other than tubers, milk and fat and oils were inadequate when compared to the recommendations of the ICMR. The intake of pulses was found to be very meagre. It was revealed that 12 % of the fisherfolk families did not own houses and lived in houses belonging to their friends or relatives. •It was also noticed that 54% of the families resided in huts, 24% in pucca houses, 2% in concrete houses and one per cent in asbestos house. It was also seen that 65 % of the wage earners lived in huts. About sixty nine per cent of the houses were non-electrified and about 76 % did not have a latrine. Among the total fisherfolk respondents selected for the study only 15% utilised news papers as sources of information. Respondent s utilising television and radio were 9% and 17% respectively.
Description
MSc
Keywords
Citation
171234