DFM Kerala
Located on the southwestern Malabar Coast of India, Kerala is a Malayam-speaking state with a coastline of approximately 600 km. It is home to over one million people who are dependent on fisheries, out of a total population of approximately 35 million.
Dried fish in Kerala
Marine fish, both fresh and dried, constitutes an essential food item in the consumption basket of people in Kerala. Delivery of various types of fresh and dried fish directly to consumers by small-scale traders, either daily in the case of fresh fish or weekly or biweekly in the case of dried fish, has a long history in the state. Historically, these fish vendors were women from traditional fishing communities, but over time men from non-fishing communities also joined the trade. Many of the women vendors had male members in their families who engaged in fishing, and it was often the unsold or excess fish that were sun dried or salted and sold as dried fish. As in fish marketing, women have historically played a prominent role in the drying of fish for both sale and household consumption.
Over the 20th century as technological and economic changes unfolded, such as commercial development by the British during the colonial era or mechanization and improved infrastructure development during the postcolonial period, the processing and marketing of fish, especially fresh fish, also underwent considerable changes. The establishment of plantations inland drove increased demand for dried fish. Men on bicycles, mopeds etc. competed with, and in some cases replaced, the marketing of fish by women by headloads. Later, mechanization, increased landings and improved transportation facilities led to commercialization of market systems and the emergence of regionally and nationally integrated markets. Kerala witnessed further changes in the marketing of fish in several places with the emergence of temporary stalls/carts at specified locations in smaller towns and villages, facilitating the availability of better quality and variety of fishes. Moreover, in line with the fast-changing consumer habits and preferences, some of the stalls started providing value-added services like cleaning, descaling, cutting etc. Recently fresh fish e-retail in urban areas and smaller towns are available. While the markets for fresh fish became more widespread and underwent considerable changes, not much information is available on the status of consumption of the dried fish and its market.
With the easy availability of fresh fish and other animal protein sources like broiler chicken and beef, the demand for dried fish consumption seems to have changed considerably. As compared to when consumption of fish depended on local catch and fish were dried for off season consumption, the consumer has more choices now. Consumers at the same time perceive both health benefits and risks of eating dried fish. While the dried fish plays an essential role in providing food and nutrition security, the health concerns arising from the increased salt intake from dried fish consumption, preservatives, and often low-quality dried fish are substantial. The taste of dried fish that generally has a strong flavour and smell seems like an acquired one, varying across different age groups or generations, genders, and even culturally and regionally. Consumer preferences appear to be closely differentiated by their socio-economic and demographic characteristics apart from other geographic and climatic factors. Against this background, a study on consumer behaviour and consumption patterns would help understand the drivers and barriers to dried fish consumption in the state. Understanding changes in the market for dried fish and consumers' behaviour over time is vital for designing effective policies for hygienic and safe production and the marketing of dried fish while ensuring livelihood security of the producers and health and food safety of the consumers.
Research objectives
The objective of this study is to "map" the social economy of dried fish in Kerala State. Utilizing a feminist commodity chain approach, we propose to conduct a historical spatial analysis of dried fish production (processing), trade, and consumption in order to understand the changing geography and social economy of dried fish, and how women’s roles in the dried fish economy have changed as a result of broader economic, technological and geographic changes (e.g., introduction of trawling and its impacts on the geography of fish harvests, processing and trade locally and nationally). Importantly, we are interested in understanding how broad socio-economic and technological changes (e.g., mechanization, export markets, alternative proteins, fishmeal industry, migration) have impacted dried fish production/trade/consumption; and how consumption (changing consumer preferences) has impacted the structure and dynamics of dried fish value chains.
The project will consist of two interrelated components. One will examine processing and trade; the other consumption. Although nominally distinct, ongoing dialogue and discussion between team members assigned to each component will foster a synthetic analysis and produce a final, integrative report in addition to scoping reports related to each value chain node under investigation: processing, trade, and consumption.
Publications
Gopal, Nikita, and Holly M Hapke. 2020. “Report of the Scoping Study on Dried Fish Value Chain in Kerala, India.” Scoping field research report. Cochin: Dried Fish Matters. [PDF]
Dried fish has long been an important source of protein in Kerala, especially for fishing communities during lean season. It has also had a niche market among fish eaters residing away from the sea coast. Dried fish has been traditionally produced by fishing communities, when the excess catch is dried by the women of the households and stored for use later or marketed during times when fresh catches were unavailable for sale. This report communicates the findings of scoping field research carried out from 27th January to 1st February 2020 in Ernakulam district of Kerala and in Aroor, Alappuzha district (Aroor borders Ernakulam district). Due to COVID-19 pandemic related restrictions from about mid- March in the state, the follow up information was mostly gathered by communicating with stakeholders over several phone calls. The sites visited included a range of dried fish production units and sellers with respect to scale, technology and innovation are concerned. They included traditional dried fish producers and production yards (small scale, home based and large scale), traditional producers willing to look for better drying technologies, innovative dried fish producers and dried fish traders selling in traditional and modern conditions. There are a number of organizational variations, which also are “gendered” in terms of how women and men are involved therein. Interactions were carried out with several traders across the markets to get an idea of the different modes of operation different traders employ. A couple of enterprises using modern driers for drying fish as well as several sites where fish is dried using traditional sun-based methods.
Research Team Members
Holly Hapke, PhD, Research Scientist, University of California, Irvine - Project co-leader; principal investigator on processing and trade component
Nikita Gopal, PhD, Principal Scientist, Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Ernakulam - Project co-leader; principal investigator on processing and trade component
Amalendu Jyotishi, PhD, Professor, School of Development, Azim Premji University - Co-principal investigator on processing and trade component (and consumption?)
Jeena T.S., PhD, Associate Professor, Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad - Principal investigator on consumption component
Priya Gupta, PhD, Assistant Professor, Amrita Viswa Vidyapeetham, Bangalore Campus - Co-principal investigator on consumption component
Ramachandra Bhatta, PhD, President, Snehakunja Trust, Project advisor, coordinator, and co-principal investigator on processing and trade component
Research Assistants (2) - TBD - one assigned to processing and trade component, the other to consumption component
Field Enumerators (2-4) - to assist research assistants in data collection