DFM Interview guide: retailers

This base interview guide, part of the approved DFM Scoping Research Protocol, is intended to support research with dried fish retailers.

Structure

How many retailers are there in the market?

Are the retailers local community members?

What are the main species and products on sale?

How much of each of the major species/products does the retailer trade each month?

Do the types of species/products traded vary by season – how and why?

Do the volumes of species/products traded vary by season – how, and why?

Which months are high/low/intermediate season?

Where are the main traded species/products sourced from?

How are they transported to market?

What types of vehicle bring fish to/take fish from the market?

What are the main sizes of vehicle?

How much dried/fermented product can be carried by each vehicle? How many of each size of vehicle visit the market each day during peak/low season?

Who are the main customers? Caste? Religion? Ethnicity? Gender?

Conduct

Do some of the retailers specialize in particular types of species/product? How many retailers specialize in each kind of product/species?

What ethnicity are the retailers (don’t need to ask this directly)?

What is the proportion of women in the retail business?

Who are the main species/products sourced from (e.g. other traders in market, small/large traders from area where produced, direct from processors)?

Do retailers provide credit to customers? On what terms?

Do retailers employ workers?

Besides trading dried fish, do retailers perform any other role in the value chain (e.g. do they own boats or transportation vehicles, do they process fish)? Has this changed over time?

How do you maintain the quality of dried fish?

Do you /family members consume dried fish? If so which species? How much and why do you prefer those species to another?

Performance

How many retailers were there 5 years ago, 10 years ago?

Is there retail’s association/s?  Is every retailer in the market a member? What rules does it have? Who leads the association?

Are there any rules and regulations that govern the retailing of dried fish?

Is it possible to categorize retailers in the market by size? (e.g. small/medium/large?) If so, what characteristics does each have?

Has the availability/volume/composition/price of species/products sold changed over the past 10 years – how/why?

What are the supply and demand drivers of change in the past 10 years?

What are the proportions of male and female workers employed by retailers? Do male and female workers have different roles?

Do retailers have any businesses that are not linked dried fish?

How much economic loss do you incur per month because of decay/wastage of fish?

Is there any support from the government for this trade in dry fish?

Are you satisfied with retailing? Do you like your children to continue with this trade?

Has the consumption preference of dried fish changed over the years?

Have there been any changes in the quality of dried fish over the years?

Are there any health related problems you have with regards to retailing dried fish? What are those?