Marketing practices of tilapia growers in selected towns of Batangas / by Rheagan M. Razon.

Thesis (BSBM--Marketing) Cavite State University

Includes bibliographical references.

College of Economics, Management, and Development Studies (CEMDS)

RAZON, RHEAGAN MESIA. Marketing Practices of Tilapia Growers in Selected Towns of Batangas. BS Thesis. Bachelor of Science in Business Management major in Marketing. Cavite State University. Indang, Cavite. April 2004. Adviser: Ms. Lina C. Abogadie.
A study to assess the marketing practices of tilapia growers was conducted from February to March, 2004. An interview schedule for the tilapia growers using quota sampling technique was used covering the towns of Batangas, namely: Agoncillo, San Nicolas, Talisay, and Laurel. The information on the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, marketing practices, marketing outlets, pricing and the problems that they encountered in marketing were obtained. A total of 100 tilapia growers were interviewed, 25 respondents from each town. Results revealed that the age of the tilapia growers ranged from 21 years old to 73 years old and an average age of 4l years. Majority (98%) of the respondents are males because of the hard work required in growing tilapia. Eighty nine of the respondents are married and eleven are single. The average number of dependents of the tilapia growers is five. The number of dependents ranged from zero to thirteen. All of the tilapia growers have formal schooling, 68 finished high school, 23 graduated elementary, five reached college level and the remaining five earned a college degree. The growers have an average net annual income of P392,272,794 with a range from a low of P45,618 to a high of P1,973,540 . Majority (61%) of the tilapia growers are operators and 39 percent are owner-operators. The years in production and marketing ranged from one year to thirty four years with an average of nine years. For the production practices, the tilapia growers grow tilapia in floating cages measuring 10 meters x 10 meters each. Every year each cage is harvested two times. Paid laborers harvest the tilapia and the labor cost ranged from P120 to P150 per person. Some of the problems encountered in growing of tilapia are high mortality rate of fingerlings, high cost of feeds for tilapia and the wear and tear of nets. Two types of method of selling were identified, wholesaling (58) and retailing (46). All of the respondents sell tilapia in the farm or harvest site. Thirty eight of the buyers of tilapia paid cash, 66 used credit and one paid in installment basis. The growers are the major price determinants (91%) while only nine reported that the buyers are the one who determine the price. Canvassing of buyers and selling tilapia to the retailers rather than the wholesalers is their way of obtaining better price for the tilapia. Sources of price information were the buyers (12%) and other tilapia producers (88%). The price of tilapia ranged from P55 to P65 and the average price is P61. Three marketing problems were identified, the delayed payment of buyers ranked number one with 53 responses, the unstable market price ranked second with 39 responses, and the season of glut ranked third with 35 responses.

Submitted to the University Library 05-27-2004 T-2887