38
Business working capital by Production volume Figure 11 shows that Processors with higher business working capital tends to produce more
compared with processors with lower business working capital. The trend is explained by the purchasing power of the processors with higher business working capital in terms of fresh fish
stock to process.
Figure 12 Distribution of Business Working Capital by Production Volume.
3.3.4 The Labor force of the Smoked Fish Processors
Smoked Fish Processors usually require helping hands to support them in their processing activities. Results from table 33 indicate that 64.4 of the Smoked Fish Processors use family
members as labor for the processing activities. Significant proportions 58.1 of the Smoked Fish Processors use hired paid laborers as helping hands for their processing activities.
Table 33 Categories of labor force used by the Smoked Fish Processors
Categories of labor used by Fish Processors
Number Percent
Central Region N=100
Equal Partners 6
6.0 Family Workers
61 61.0
Paid Laborers 62
62.0 In-kind Laborers
0.0
Western Region N=60
Equal Partners 3
5.0 Family Workers
42 70.0
Paid Laborers 31
51.7 In-kind Laborers
0.0
Overall N=160-
Equal Partners 9
5.6 Family Workers
103 64.4
Paid Laborers 93
58.1 In-kind Laborers
0.0
According to the discussants during the focus group discussions, the micro and small scale processors usually do not use hired labor because they resort to family members as helping
hands for their processing activities. The reasons were attributed to the fact that most of the
39 micro and small processes purchases their fresh fish and other inputs on credit they are unable
to engage the services of hired paid laborers and scale of production volume usually can be managed without an external helping hand.
3.3.5 The size of the Labor force hired by the Smoked Fish Processors
Results from the study indicate that, of the proportion of Smoked Fish Processors who engaged the services of paid laborers, 52.7 of the processors hired 1
– 3 paid laborers. 40.9 of the processors hired 4 -6 paid laborers and 1.1 hired 7
– 10 paid laborers. A significant proportion of the Smoked Fish Processors hired 10 or more paid laborers.
Table 34 The size of the labor force used by the Smoked Fish Processors
Size of labor force used by Smoked Fish Processors
Number Percent
Central Region N=62
1 - 3 hired labor 27
43.5 4 - 6 hired labor
30 48.4
7 - 9 hired labor 1
1.6 10 and Above hired labor
4 6.5
Western Region N=31
1 - 3 hired labor 22
71.0 4 - 6 hired labor
8 25.8
7 - 9 hired labor 0.0
10 and Above hired labor 1
3.2
Overall N=93
1 - 3 hired labor 49
52.7 4 - 6 hired labor
38 40.9
7 - 9 hired labor 1
1.1 10 and Above hired labor
5 5.4
Figure 13 Percentage distribution of hired laborers engaged by Processors
40
3.3.6 Frequency of payment of hired paid labor by the Smoked Fish Processors
