DFM West Bengal scoping report 01

Terms of reference

• Reports or mutually agreed upon outputs of appropriate mutually agreed upon lengths to address June 2021 components
  • Mapping of market and market segments in the value chain (producers, processors, traders, and retailers)
  • Submission of ethics amendments applications where necessary for December 2021 WB components
• Reports should contain lists, images, figures, and other illustrative materials as necessary.
• Reports should include statements of methods, including details of participants involved and numbers of interviews or other meetings.
• Any new relevant local sources should be listed in an online library using the shared DFM Zotero project database following the terms of reference above.

Status

DRAFT

Workflow

• 2021-06-27: Draft received from Jenia. DFM_RPT_WBG-Scoping-01_2021-06.pdf
• 2021-07-19: Returned to Jenia with comments from Derek. Requested section addressing methods. DFM_RPT_WBG-Scoping-01_Comments-DJ_2021-06.pdf
• 2021-08-18: Updated draft received from Raktima. DFM_RPT_WBG-Scoping-01_2021-08-18.docx and DFM_RPT_WBG-Scoping-01_Comments-DJ_2021-06_Explanations.pdf

Metadata

abstract

Fish drying was adopted as a low-cost, traditional mode of fish preservation in India. Dried and fermented fish contributes substantial micronutrients to the Indian diet and thereby, plays a fundamental role in combating malnutrition and health issues among developing nations of South Asia, such as India. Over the years, it has evolved from a traditional means of subsistence generation to a full-fledged occupation accruing economic benefits to millions of people. Fish drying is not merely a sector of economy or a robust market conglomeration, but it has an explicit relationship with the physiographical as well as ecological attributes which have generously organized themselves through time and thereupon, nourished a wide variety of aquatic ecosystems at their best adaptations. In this report, we intend to explore the DF social economy from theoretical and empirical entanglements and thereby, spell out our insights on scoping prospects within the Sundarbans (South 24 Parganas district) and East Medinipur district of West Bengal.

series

DFM Reports

title

Dried fish in West Bengal, India: Scoping report

date

2021

author

Raktima Ghosh, Jenia Mukherjee, Amrita Sen, and Souradip Pathak

series editor

Derek Johnson

technical editor

Eric Thrift

license

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/.

address

Dried Fish Matters Project Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts 432 Fletcher Argue Building, 15 Chancellor Circle The University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2 CANADA

dried.fish.matters@umanitoba.ca

acknowledgements

This work draws on research supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Cover media

logos

cover image

Contents

• Introduction
• Historical overview
• Familiarizing the landscape
• Data sources and methodology
• Dried fish production
• Social profile of fishers, workers, and processors
• Value chain insights, economy and trade
• Placing values in value chain
• Nutritional value and myriad consumptive patterns
• Local conflicts and power asymmetry
• Governance and governmentality
• Conclusion