Website and Mobile app launched for fishermen to sell fish directly

Kochi: The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) here has developed a multivendor e-commerce website and mobile app to help fishermen earn better income for their catch without depending on middlemen.

The CMFRI has developed the technology to help fish farmers and fishermen selling their farmed fish and marine catch directly to the customers online, a CMFRI press release said.

The website and mobile app named marinefishsales was developed under the National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project of the CMFRI as part of improving income of the coastal community who are struggling hard to stabilise their income due to fishery and climate related issues. The initiative was one of the ways to tackle the situation prevailing in the coastal belt owing to the dwindling catches. The portal was an interface of multi-vendors and consumers with CMFRI performing the administrative role between them, it said.

Fishermen and fish farmers who want to sell their catch and fish online may form Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and register with the platform. CMFRI will monitor the vendor profiles, order status and sales.

Customers can place their order after choosing the fish, either cleaned or raw, from respective farmers or fishermen groups. At present payment was available only on cash-on-delivery mode. The profit could be shared directly among the fishermen and farmers groups by not allowing middlemen share their profits.

Trial sales were also conducted after the CMFRI provided training to the fish farmers and fishermen to familiarise with e-commerce website and mobile app. The facility will boost selling of fresh fishes, both cultured and captured, with higher profits to the fishermen and fish farmers.

In the next phase, the service will be extended to the other parts of the country in accordance with the success of the initiative.