Marketing of Freshwater Chinese Mitten Crab and Support to the Mitten Crab Farmers in China

Abstract

The study examines a snapshot of domestic marketing of freshwater Chinese mitten crab and support to the farmers in China with focus on the Jiangsu Province. A total of 96 farmers were sampled for the study. A semi-structured questionnaire was designed to elicit information from the mitten crab farmers. The researchers employed descriptive statistics for the data analysis. Chinese mitten crab farmers accessed price information from their fellow farmers, wholesalers, cooperatives, local market and the internet; most farmers accessed price information from their fellow mitten crab farmers. Farmers determined the quality of mitten crab through attributes such as maturity, appearance, weight, odour and texture with maturity ranked as the highest followed by appearance in quality attributes. Actors within the producer output supply chain are wholesalers, retailers, enterprises/organizations, supermarkets, cooperatives and consumers. Majority of farmers relied on own source of income (savings) to fund their mitten crab farming activities. Farmers who are members of cooperatives benefited from services such as technical support, uniform sales and purchase, unified feed and uniform crab seed of good quality. In conclusion, Chinese mitten crab farmers mostly share price information among themselves and employed multiple quality attributes in determining the quality of mitten crab. Most preferred supplying their mitten crab to wholesalers and depend less in accessing of credit. Majority of the farmers have been trained in the culture of mitten crab.