Industry overview
What is shaping fishing
Fishing connects coastal communities, processors and exporters in a supply chain where freshness, ice and timing decide value. Livelihoods depend on seasons, regulation and access to cold chain.
- Seasonal fishing bans and weather drive income cycles
- Cold chain and processing determine export quality
- Welfare schemes and cooperatives support fisher families
Client background
A microfinance foundation, working in Kerala & Maharashtra. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- A microfinance foundation
- Sector
- Fishing
- Team engaged
- Market Research
- Services
- Qualitative research, Quantitative research, Reporting & insights
Client challenge
Women fish vendors were a large but poorly understood group of potential borrowers. The foundation wanted to design a loan product that fitted their daily cash cycles and risks.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: hearing from women fish vendors about credit and market access.
- Understand the views, needs and behaviour of vendor survey responses.
- Measure how widespread each pattern is, and explain the reasons behind it.
- Give the client evidence it can act on within 7 weeks.
Target audience
The work focused on 600 vendor survey responses.
- vendor survey responses600
Audiences we typically reach in fishing
Fishers and boat ownersFish traders and auctioneersProcessors and exportersSeafood consumersCooperatives and scheme officials
Geographic coverage
Coverage: Kerala & Maharashtra. Market: India.
- India
Research methodology
A mixed-method design: structured research measured how widespread each pattern was, and qualitative conversations explained why.
- 1Brief
- 2In-depth interviews
- 3Vendor survey
- 4Insight
Women interviewers spoke with vendors at markets and in their homes about daily purchasing, informal loans, savings and safety. A survey then measured how common the patterns were across locations.
Qualitative researchQuantitative researchReporting & insights
Sampling strategy
- vendor survey responses
- 600
- Qualitative participants were recruited purposively to cover the full range of experiences that mattered, rather than for statistical representation.
Data collection
- interviews
- 50
- Interviews and discussions were led by experienced moderators using a guide agreed with the client.
Data quality & validation
- Recordings and transcripts for every session
- Re-screening of qualitative recruits
- Logic and range checks on the final data
- Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures
Data analysis
- Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
- Significance testing on the differences that mattered
- Thematic coding of interviews and discussions
- Journey and decision mapping
Key findings
- Vendors needed small, very short-term working capital repaid daily, not monthly instalments.
Designing finance around real cash cycles is more important than interest rates alone.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: designing finance around real cash cycles is more important than interest rates alone.
- Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: vendors needed small, very short-term working capital repaid daily, not monthly instalments.
- Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.
Business impact
- The foundation piloted a daily-repayment micro-loan with collection at markets.
What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.
Deliverables & next steps
- Insight report and management presentation
- Cleaned data file and data tables
- Interview summaries and key verbatims
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: how do fishers manage income through the season?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.