The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Visakhapatnam News : An attractive loan with a big catch!

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Monday, Apr 06, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

An attractive loan with a big catch!

Santosh Patnaik

Private moneylenders have their own way of fleecing fishermen

- Photo: K.R. Deepak

Fishermen returning home unload a marlinspike called ‘komukonem’ in local parlance on a cloudy afternoon in Visakhapatnam .

VISAKHAPATNAM: An interest-free loan of Rs.50,000 for five years with automatic reduction in principal amount of Rs.10,000 every year sounds irresistible but it has a big catch to it.

Like all loans by commercial banks and micro finance institutes, here too there are certain conditions. But what baffles many is the fact that private moneylenders who give loans to traditional fishermen for buying catamaran and fibre reinforcement plastic boats have their way of fleecing the boat owner and the crew by buying their catch at the price fixed by them.

A study reveals that there are 25 fisherfolk villages in Bhimunipatnam, Visakhapatnam, Pedagantyada, Atchyutapuram and Nakkapalli. Each boat goes on a voyage early in the day with a crew of four fishermen and returns late in the evening. There are about 150 moneylenders who give finance to the fishermen for buying boats. As soon as the boats return from voyage, the catch mostly big fish of premium quality such as konam, kingfish, snappers, chandua, seerfish and tiger prawns are grabbed by the moneylenders at the price fixed by them.

“We give them Rs.60 per kg for big fish during season and Rs.100 during off-season. Later we sell them by retaining a small margin to vendors who come along with vehicles from Kolkata, Chennai and Cochin,” said Chodipalli Yerri Naidu, a moneylender hailing from Pudimadaka, a fishermen village, about 35 km. from here.

Delhi-based Micro Insurance Academy , which is run by Sarvajan Unnati Bodhini Charitable Trust, is now conducting a study to identify risks involved in the livelihood of about 15,000 fishermen engaged in traditional fishing, and has come out with insurance and other proposals to improve their quality of living. MIA has been hired for the study with funding from ILO through District Fishermen Youth Welfare Federation.

“We are studying the risks and fill the gaps through alternate packages,” MIA Director (research and training) Raif Radermacher told The Hindu.

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