STUDIES ON THE PERFORMANCE OF FISHERIES COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES OF LATUR DISTRICT OF MAHARASHTRA STATE.

Fisheries cooperative societies are playing an important role in development of marine and inland fisheries sector and in livelihood of fishermen as well. Though fisheries cooperatives have been studied in coastal region mainly and the information of performance of fisheries cooperatives in fresh water sector of Maharashtra state is available in scarce. This paper deals with the study of functioning of fisheries cooperative societies with respect to production, expenditure, income, training attended, government assistance to the society etc. Out of total 180 registered societies in Latur District, 80 fisheries cooperative societies have been studied. All societies are found functioning and no society found dormant. But performance wise only 20% cooperatives have shown higher income (11-13 Lakhs/year) followed by 50% cooperatives have shown moderate income (7-10 Lakhs / year) and 30% cooperatives have shown low income (3 - 6 Lakhs/year). Therefore, necessary steps should be taken up to improve performance of fisheries cooperative societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]