DFM WG1 Country team priorities

These research priorities were introduced at the WG1 meeting of February 1, 2021. Research Teams were requested to:

1. Create a list of key questions and insights that have emerged from their literature review and scoping research.
2. Identify priority topics and research questions for further investigation at a regional scale for coordination by Working Group 1.
3. Assign one delegate from their team to present these points at the next Working Group 1 meeting.

The notes below are copied from the slides or text documents supplied by presenters themselves where available, or otherwise summarized from oral communications at the meeting.

Cambodia

Balancing livelihood, nutrition, food security, ecological and cultural importance of dried fish

• What is the role of the processing sector in providing livelihoods for vulnerable and very poor groups? (both in terms of food security and income)
• How ‘secure’ is this livelihood, considering current and future social, economic and ecological conditions?
• Who depends on fish processing for livelihood and why?
• What is the difference in people who are involved in different types of fish processing? Why?
• Who is able to thrive in dried fish livelihoods, if any, and why?

Dried fish and intersectional identities

• How do gendered socialization processes continue to shape young girl and boy children’s engagement with fisheries and fish processing?
• What is the role of (gendered/intersectional) kinship and social networks in processed fish value chains?
• What are the linkages between (gendered/intersectional) trends of migration for work and change in demand and consumption patterns of traditional processed fish products?
• When fish processing is scaled up, do such social networks continue to be important?  Do the gender dynamics shift?

‘Dried fish’ as food and culture

• How has knowledge of fish processing  changed over generations?
• How have preferences for processed fish (e.g.: fish paste or Prahoc) changed with different generations? Do younger people also enjoy processed fish? Why or why not?
• How are processed fish viewed – as food during food shortage? As local delicacy? As local identity?
• What are the within-group differences in food preferences observed above (For example, rural / urban / generational differences)? What foods are seen as alternatives to processed fish products?
• What is the role of processed fish products in traditional festivals (For ex: Khmer New Year)?   Is this changing with time?
• How are processed fish viewed from food safety perspective? What are the effect of labelling for processed fish and its production?  

Kerala

Issue 1: Changing context and relationship of women's labor to the dried fish economy and dried fish commodity chains

To what extent has a shift occurred from household production, over which women had significant control, to wage labor in more commercialized settings? In what ways might that shift altered gender relations within the dried fish economy? What are the implications of such shifts for women's economic autonomy and livelihood options?

To what extent is women's labor in dried fish remunerated/unremunerated (hence undervalued) and reflected in the price of dried fish (e.g., observation that women's labor in restoring quality to dried fish that has been damaged does not result in a higher price)? What are the implications of non-remuneration and/or non-reflection in price for valuing women's labor? To what extent, on the other hand, might women's unremunerated or undervalued labor enable affordability for poor consumers, thereby subsidizing food security?

Issue 2: Relationship/linkages between dried fish production (harvesting, processing), trade, and consumption as impacted by broad-scale changes

Explore changes in:

• Economy: e.g., new markets, economic restructuring, commercialization
• Environment: ecological stress, shifts in harvests/fish stocks
• Technology: mechanization, infrastructure (transport, comms, freezing)
• Culture: diets, culinary cultures, consumer preferences, new foods

How have changes in one or more of these spheres driven changes in other spheres over time to shape the social economy of dried fish historically? How do changes and impacts shape the relationship between production, trade and consumption?

Bangladesh

Key questions and insights

• Migration (labour – cross-country, region)
• Violation of human rights - Child labour, forced labour, exploitation, Gender-based labour, pay gaps, and harassment
• Climate change and dry fish sector
• Distributive justice
• Social aspects of  dry fish adulteration at processing and trading nodes
• Informality in  value chain
• Broader social, economic and ideological transformation and changes in  dry fish sector
• Ethnicity, professional perils, indigenous knowledge
• Stigmatization of the dry fish community

Priority topics and research questions for further investigation

• Violation of human rights - child labour, forced labour, exploitation, gender-based labour, pay gaps, and harassment
• Climate change and dry fish sector, sea level rise, erratic weather, frequent cyclone, dwindling fish biodiversity and abundance
• Social aspects of  dry fish adulteration at processing and trading nodes – use of pesticides and chemicals, prospects of processing of organic dry fish (using herbal pesticides)
• Broader social, economic and ideological transformation and changes in  dry fish sector in Bangladesh inclusive, imported dry fish, blue economy and blue justice, massive infrastructural development, employment opportunity
• Ethnicity, professional perils, traditional indigenous knowledge

Andhra Pradesh

1. Analyze the nature and characteristics of the dried fish economy in Andhra Pradesh in the context dried fish processing for human consumption versus for the animal feed industry

It is observed that the structure and organization of dried fish livelihoods and value chain are vastly different in the case of the above two sub-sectors of dried fish economy in Andhra Pradesh.

While dried fish processing for human consumption is carried out mostly by women producers at household level using family labor and with a goal of achieving some fixed incomes weekly or monthly, the processing of low value/ trash fish generated by targeted fishing by trawlers are on a larger scale, mostly by men, using hired labor and with a goal of maximization of profits.

The input supply channel and output marketing channels are also different for both.

This study proposes to bring out the complexities and uniqueness in terms of the production and exchange relations and formal or informal contracts in the above two sub-sectors of dried fish economy in AP.  It will also focus on the changing role of women in the context of expanding dried fish processing for animal/poultry feed.

2. The Hasil system or the market entry fee and its impact on women dried fish processors in Andhra Pradesh

It is observed that a fee for entering dried fish markets exists in most places in Andhra Pradesh. The dried fish processors must pay this fee to gain entry to the market and to trade their produce.

However, in the absence of a properly implemented formal mechanism to collect the fee and issue receipts, the women processors are often subjected to ill-treatment and harassment by the agents involved.

The women are often charged a higher fee according to the discretion of the agent at the collection point.

Refusal to pay the demanded fee results in arguments and or verbal and physical abuses.

This paper proposes to analyze the details of the Hasil system and its impact particularly on women processors with a goal to identify the reforms needed to make the marketplace more gender inclusive and friendly for women processors to sell their produce.

Karnataka

Key questions and insights

What are the most important developments that are threatening the dry fish producers (access to resources, shrinking space, demand attributes, supply chain system, food quality regulations and trade in scheduled animals and fishery support system)

Priority topics and questions

1. How social survey methodologies could be used for the assessment of supply and demand attributes including assessment of buying behavior of dry fish consumers ( sensitive questioning techniques, question phrasing, timings, order and the use of proxies and availability of skills among the field enumerators that could impact the quality of the data
2. How the respondents (producers and buyers) view the climate change, biodiversity loss and other natural and human induced disasters as risks.  
3. How do you influence the demand reduction behavior or the buying behavior of the scheduled animals such as sharks and their fins, dried seahorses, and other wild animals trade for conservation   

I tried to list some of the research issues which are normally not covered by the existing research groups. In the wake of promoting more dry fish production and consumption, we should not ignore the present international/domestic trade in scheduled dry fish animals leading to over exploitation of threatened/endangered aquatic animals.

Sri Lanka

Note the italicized text in the table below indicates questions that are of broad interest. The regular text indicates questions particular to Sri Lanka.

Proposed topics	Research questions
Intersectionality in dried fish processing and trading	How do social relations, employment conditions, capabilities, vulnerabilities and wellbeing outcomes differ according to gender, region and ethno-religion groups? Does a better understanding of scale of operations increase the visibility of women and other marginalized groups?
Segmentation, integration and governance in dried fish value chains	How complex are dried fish value chains in Sri Lanka? How segmented or integrated are these value chains and what is the extent of function integration among actors? Which actors are dominant in value chain coordination?
Dried fish marketing and distribution channels	How centralized or decentralized is dried fish marketing in Sri Lanka? How many wholesale dried fish markets are there in Sri Lanka? How many wholesalers are there who are limited to the wholesaling function? How central is the role of wholesalers in dried fish distribution? What are the main distribution channels operating in dried fish value chains?
Impact of COVID-19 on dried fish value chains	What is the overall impact of COVID-19 on dried fish processing, trading and consumption across project countries, taking into account the different waves of the pandemic? What are factors for positive or negative impacts on processors and traders in different countries?
Dried fish consumption preferences	What are the determinants of dried fish consumption in terms of  quantity and species in Sri Lanka? Income group, ethnicity, region?
Technology adoption	What proportion of dried fish processors have adopted new processing technology promoted by the state and NGOs in the last decades? What are the main constraints to adoption? - Mismatch between scale of operation and technology? Lack of dissemination? Lack of finance for investment? Other?
Symbolic and cultural significance of dried fish	How is dried fish depicted and/or used in myth and ritual? How is the taste of dried fish captured in the culinary traditions across different regions and ethno-religious groups? How is the scent of dried fish perceived in historical and literary sources, and across different social groups? How significant is dried fish in maintaining culinary traditions and identities of migrant communities/diasporas? What is a unique dried/fermented fish product consumed in each country (e.g. Maldive fish in Sri Lanka)? How has this product evolved historically?

Thailand

WG1 cross-cutting themes based on Thailand study

• Changes and implications, including Covid-19 (ecological, socio-economics, policy/governance);
• Product/market diversification and innovation (esp. retail, community-based, small-scale enterprises), both demand and supply driven;
• Relationship and dynamics between SSF vs. LSF (harvest and post-harvest);
• Role of DF in food security for non-coastal areas; and
• Migrant/foreign workers

Telangana

• Dried fish farmers' relations
• Traditional practices and customs that influence economy at local level
• Migrant labour; conflicts with locals
• Role of women
• How markets influence dried fish value chains. The majority of dried fish from Telangana is exported -- e.g., to Bangladesh. Traders are playing a major role.
• New water bodies, conflict over access to them.
• Resource management vs. governance
• Consumption patterns. How people have been accessing dried fish.

Gujarat

Gujarat is a distinct site as it is outward-oriented; domestic consumption of dried fish is very low. But Gujarat accounts for a substantial proportion of the dried fish supply. We want to get a panoramic view of the sector. Some major tendencies:

• Move to vertical integration (as mentioned by Dilanthi)
• New labour arrangements, including contract labour
• Fragmentation
• Overfishing, esp. Bombay Duck
• Information poverty among fishers. The fishers themselves do not know where their product is going; they assume that fish is going to high-value distribution (e.g., pharmaceutical) while they are getting too low returns. But the value chain is invisible to them.

Myanmar

Scoping has not gone ahead yet; this summary will be based on what we already know/have done.

• Issues around labour, esp. exploitative practices in fishing and drying. But also household dynamics.
• Migration: seasonal into fisheries; from inland to coastal fisheries; bonded arrangements there; movement out of fisheries, to Thailand and other places.
• Health of the ecosystem. Inland and marine fisheries are facing pressure.
• Conflicts between small-scale (near-shore) and large-scale (offshore) fishers.
• Movements of fish around the country and into the hinterland. Esp. exports into China are poorly understand; other amounts to Bangladesh
• Role of dried fish in supermarkets -- the changing retail landscape
• Ethnicity and trading
• Credit relations. We assume there is a lot of tied credit from traders to fishers, etc., but these relationships are poorly understood.
• How fish-drying, fishing, fish trading intersect with other parts of people's livelihoods. People typically do more than one thing.
• Political economy of fishing. Power relations.
• Well-being. More attention is needed from an analytical perspective.