Methods

Information through mobile phones reduce price dispersion, increase fishermen’s profit and consumer’s welfare and due to profit self-sustaining mobile phone companies provides information, at the same time fishermen willing to pay to providers because of their increased earnings (Jensen, R., 2007).

Akter J. C. (2008) empirically analyzed impact of cell phones on grain markets in Niger with the detailed information on mobile phone coverage from 2001 to 2006 and also collected information on grain market operation from 2005 to 2007. The dataset includes monthly grain price data from 1996-2006, after analysis Akter J. C (2008) found that introduction of mobile phones reduced price dispersion across grain market and improved consumer as well as trader welfare in Niger.

After evaluating the role of telecommunication within the context of Bangladesh rural development in general and poverty reduction Bayes A. (2001) concludes that mobile phone has positive effect on women empowerment and relatively poor mobile phone owner tends to raise their social status, pave the way for change in the social equilibrium.

Availability of mobile technology enables new mode of cooperation, using mobile phones in culturally enhancing and ecologically oriented ways improve the working and living condition of fishers community (Sreekumar, T. T., 2011).

Mobile phones requires basic literacy so that accessible to large segment of the population and advantages of mobile phone technology can be used for the purpose of health, education, commerce and Governance (Rashid A. T. and Elder, L., 2009).

Direct impact are less and greater use of mobile phone for social purposes and emergencies, rather than dedicated economic activity; mobile phone’s impact on small enterprises, farmers, and the self-employed is not clear-cut (Souter et al., 2005; Donner, 2004 and 2008).

Gordon, J. (2007) used three critical situation (a) Chinese SARS outbreak (2003), (b) the south-east Asian tsunami (December 2004) and (c) the London bombings (July 2005) as case studied and explored the influence of mobile phones. After the analysis, author concludes that mobile phone technology amongst the public sphere helped ameliorate the effects of those situation by being providing information via voice or sms.

A socio-economic questionnaire was administrated in each household. The questionnaire included quantitative semi-open and closed (multi-choice) questions. The questionnaire was structured to collect detailed information on household income, general socio-economic background (number of family members, age, and education), productive assets, and livelihood strategies (on-farm and non-farm activities). Income referred to the household’s income earned in cash plus payment in kind that could be valued at market prices. The cash earning components of income included crop and vegetable sales, petty trade, remittance and fish sales. Also, it was hypothesized that wealth would also influence the household income structure.