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Fishermen in clutches of moneylenders

BERHAMPUR: The traditional marine fishermen living on the Orissa coast have little say on the price of their catch in the market. They have become pawns in the hands of moneylenders who advance funds to them for their boats, nets and other needs. These moneylenders now control the marine fishing market, alleges Kanda Allaya, secretary of the Orissa Traditional Fishworkers’ Union (OTFU). Most of the loans taken by the fishermen are from private money lenders rather than nationalised banks. The gruesome paper work and need of a land patta make most fishermen unsuitable for loans from nationalised banks.

The traditional wooden boats have given way to Fibreglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP) boats and plank boats. A plank boat costs around Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 17,000, while a fibreglass costs Rs. 1 lakh. The engine to be fitted in the boat costs another Rs. 50,000. And all that a marine fisherman family earns usually goes to repayment to moneylenders, middlemen and in some cases to banks. The government provides Rs. 20,000 subsidy only on loans for engine if it is bought through the long cumbersome process of bank loans, says a fisherman of Ganjam coast.

Moneylenders, who advance funds for FRP and mechanised boats usually hold claim to almost all the fish catch from these vessels, says Mr. Mangaraj Panda, a social worker working with the marine fishermen on Orissa coast. This is leading to a situation wherein trade in fish is being increasingly controlled by a handful of powerful individuals, or their agents.

They literally dictate the price of marine products that come in from sea, by controlling the auction mechanism or by demanding the entire catch for the funds already advanced. The middlemen in trading of marine products also exploit the gullible fishermen by making payments once in a fortnight or month. But they get payments from the higher-up in the trading network at least twice a week. “In a way they reinvest the money meant for payment of fishermen as loans,” alleges Mr. Panda. Recently Samudram, a women’s organisation of marine fisherwomen of Orissa coast, has formed a cooperative to market marine produce to put check on exploitation of fishermen in the market. They are trying to directly market their fish produce and value added products outside the State directly. But the effort is too small in comparison to the exploitive fangs of moneylenders who sit coiled around the economy of these poor marine fishermen of Orissa coast.

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