DFM Mizoram & Manipur
Mizoram and Manipur are neighbouring states in North-East India. Sharing borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh, this region is a site of cross-border trade.
Partners
Village Service Society (VSS)
Village Service Society (VSS) is a registered Non Governmental organization working with the fisherfolk in rural India for the last 18 years. VSS was registered in the year 1995 by the committed rural development professionals and professional social workers. VSS had worked with the agencies like United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in the formation and strengthening process of the 500 women Self Help Groups (SHGs), their village and mandal level federations in the most backward area of Mahabubnagar District, Telangana State. VSS also facilitated the formation process of Fishermen cooperative Societies (FCSs), Farmers Clubs and also several watershed committees in the district. VSS could able to cover more than 200 villages of Mahabubnagar district in Telangana State for the last 24 years. VSS has been working with various Government departments like Fisheries department, Agriculture department, NABARD and Research Institutions and the NGOs like WASSAN,CWS, etc in working with the communities.
VSS has been primarily working on the inland fisheries sector and associated with about 5000 fisher folk in Mahabubnagar district of Telangana State, India. Later, expand their working areas to Mizoram and Manipur States. The organization is keen to work with the fishing communities to enhance their livelihoods by improving the productivity of the water bodies and also taking control over the markets. The organization developed a concept on "Community managed Inland tank based fisheries in Telangana" and closely working with the fisheries department, Government of Telangana, Mizoram and Manipur, India and several other agencies in developing the fisherfolk.
Mr. Ramachandrudu Barigela, President of Village Service Society (VSS), will be the lead coordinator in India for the Mazirom and Manipur team. He has twenty-six years of experience in fisheries research, community-based natural resource management, community mobilization. His expertise includes design, planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of various projects related to Inland fisheries, tank management, watershed development, land rights of dalit, and many others. He has facilitated the formation process of 350 fishers cooperatives in Telangana. He is also a practitioner and master trainer on Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods and tools.
Research activities
Pre-scoping pilot visits and survey of the production, processing, and trading of dried fish
The team will conduct a pre-scoping pilot visits and survey to identify the main production, processing and wholesale dried fish markets in Mizoram and Manipur states.
Scoping study
The scoping study will be our main approach to capture a comprehensive profile and status of dried fish in Mizoram and Manipur. In Mizoram and Manipur, the focus of the scoping study will be on inland dry fish sector. The scoping study will focus on several key areas that are closely linked to dried fish. The idea is to develop a comprehensive understanding about dried fish in Mizoram and Manipur by scoping into the social, cultural, economic/market, technological, political and biophysical aspects of dried fish and understand how each of these aspects works and how do these aspects interact with each other. The scoping study will identify different segment of dried fish value chain (fisheries, dried fish processing, dried fish, wholesaling and dried fish retailing) and explore the governance of such value chain segments.
Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be used to collect data. Semi-structured individual and group interviews with the approved DFM interview guides will be used to conduct the study.
Range of Scoping
The study will be conducted in Mizoram and Manipur States, North East Region of India with a focus on the resources, people, markets, social, economic and other issues will be covered for the study. The study will focus on the entire Dry fish value chain and the people involved in the value chain system.
Team
The Mizoram & Manipur research team is interdisciplinary and multi-institutional. The team members include Department of Fisheries (DoF) researchers and non-government organization researchers.