Practices & Ways to strengthen Women’s Participation in Fisheries Sector Background The fisheries sector in India is highly unorganized, and about 85% of the produce is sold in domestic markets. Of this, about 70% is consumed fresh, while the remaining is processed, dried, or smoked. The fisheries value chain is dominated by small players, both in coastal fishing as well as in aquaculture farms. The sector is characterized by high levels of post-harvest losses and informal market connections. A large percentage of products end up in unhygienic wet markets, generally within a certain radius of production/catch. Other challenges include delivery of quality products to end consumers, lack of suitable transportation and storage, low value add, and low prices. The pandemic exacerbated these issues with reduced exports, and increased wastage/losses, and loss of domestic markets due to inadequate cold chain infrastructure. The current project on Facilitating adoption of best practices for energy efficient and low Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Ozone Depleting Substance (ODS) cold chain operations in the target fisheries value chains through policy recommendations and private sector participation in South Asia with particular focus on India is a part of the larger project viz. The “India: Fisheries Sector Covid-19 Response and Recovery” project implemented by Department of Fisheries (DoF), supported and financed by the World Bank. It is targeted towards (a) protect jobs, livelihood and building resilience of microenterprises to future shocks; (b) create jobs, especially for women and ensure more sustainable business growth in select value chains; and (c) strengthen institutions for rebuilding better through the three Project Components -Facilitating Formalization and Working Capital Finance for Micro-and Small-Enterprises, supporting small-scale Participants in the Fisheries Sector to Re-engage and Expand Businesses and Improved Food Safety and Quality Monitoring Systems, Traceability, Advocacy and Awareness. In respect to environmental stewardship, making fisheries value chain more sustainable and energy efficient, actions are required at two levels: (i) Improving the energy efficiency and reducing GWP and ODS footprint across the entire cold chain infrastructure and logistic in fisheries value chains by private businesses; and (ii) Developing adequate policy changes, conducive business environment, relevant financing and other actions that can facilitate and incentivize improvements to be adopted by the private sector. Context setting: One of the key elements is to explore and understand on how more women can come into the sector and importantly how their participation can be more productive, and the interventions needed to involve women in a formal way in the fisheries sector. In order to understand the current scenario, stakeholder meeting was conducted which had participation from government agencies, fisheries institutes, research institutes and experts working in this area to take definite inputs and suggestions on the way forward. The meeting was also instrumental in sharing the findings via the audits carried out in various fisheries value chains by DESL under the project and survey carried out by CII in fish markets and gather inputs from the experts on their views on which aspect of value chain can women have opportunities, what can be done for that at policy level and role of private sector for such involvement. Stakeholder main discussion points: The stakeholders were requested to reflect on the current scenario of women’s participation across the value chain at different level, existing barriers and their elimination, and opportunities that can be availed and suggestions for strengthening the participation in the sector at all levels and what further can be done to make jobs more productive. • Gender issues that exist currently in the sector: • Fish catching is majorly done by men in the sector • Ocean-going boats for offshore and deep-sea fishing have majority of male crews, while in coastal communities' women often manage smaller boats and canoes. • Women mostly responsible for unskilled and time-consuming onshore tasks, such as making and mending nets, processing and marketing catches, and providing services to the boats. (source: secondary research) • Women are traditionally engaged in low-paid jobs, such as unloading the day’s catch to be carried to the nearby markets, drying and processing the fish • Women often face more problems related to technology, finance for enterprise expansion, and transport. • Social and cultural pressures limit their market opportunities to locations that are close to home. • Unable to access the national or global markets that men have access to. • It was discussed that women are the major contributor to the seafood industry. Participation of women as entrepreneur in the sector is increasing. Even there are women at highest management level as senior manager power, senior QC manager and majority of lady staff are qualified microbiologists. Group photograph during the stakeholder discussion • It was discussed that women workers are better than men workers in the processing side. With proper training and education, women workers would understand the importance of sanitation and hygiene while working in the sector • It was discussed that women should be encouraged to come forward and do a better job in the mainstream segment. Apart from the processing sector, other sectors in the value chain still lack the participation of women. There is no participation of women in fishing because of the difficulty involved and lack of sanitation and clean space for fish cutting in harbor areas. As far as aquaculture is concerned, it was observed that there is potential for women to participate at the entrepreneur level or middle level, but training programs and awareness generation programs are required to make them understand the potential areas and policies prevalent in India supporting women in the sector to strengthen the participation. • It was discussed that under PMMSY scheme, under entrepreneurship model, which is designed to develop projects on large scale, 30% subsidy is given. Many women are involved in seaweed culture especially in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu and currently funding is being provided for that. Another important sector for women is ornamental fisheries. Majority of women are involved in dry fish marketing and sufficient facilities for drying should be created. • It was noted that at present women are availing subsidies and support is being provided to them by conducting workshops and trainings. It was noted that Government is funding other organizations other than NFDB also to give trainings, demonstration and workshop. Further he mentioned a scheme which is been designed to allow private parties to involve and give trainings. • Government is looking for private parties who can conduct training or workshop for a specified duration to bring in entrepreneurs. • Fisheries is not a homogeneous single value chain sector, and the value chains are equally complex. • Entrepreneurship model in not only for fisherman or fisher women family. It is general for those who are in fisheries having good experience. Anybody can be benefited from the entrepreneurship model through education and awareness and not necessarily fisherwomen alone will bet benefit from the schemes being devised by different bodies. • Currently associations like NFDB are receiving applications from people who have sufficient experience in fisheries, and they can avail all the benefits from the model. One needs to be encouraged either be it a man or woman to establish something new and for that funding is being provided. If it’s a woman subsidy will be around 30% and for others, it is 25%. Some examples were also discussed on what associations are doing by assisting females for establishing new ventures like fish feed formulation, cold storage, Kiosk, retail outlet and for doing aquaculture on a large scale. Under PMMSY only limited funding will be provided whereas in entrepreneur model the applicant will get a large-scale subsidy of about 30%. • It was discussed that through the incubation centre located at the fishing hamlet Aksharapakkam and Nochikuppam, a lot of training to fisher women is being facilitated with the help of funding from NFDB and NADP. Women hesitate to come forward because of the marketing issues despite providing facilities on rental basis and training to produce new fishery products. If something could be done to resolve the marketing issue and price disparity, then definitely it will help fisher women to become entrepreneur. • Insisted on another aspect of providing tools and machineries for the hygienic preparation or to work in a comfortable manner during making of dry fish has a high potential She added that many women are involved in the making of value-added product. • Women’s involvement in dry fish making was discussed and the support provided by government has provided them solar dryers. In some areas, there is a poor response to the solar dryers especially along the coast of Mangalore which is a potential area for dry fish making. Most solar dryers are remaining idle and when women are asked for reasons, they told a twofold reason. When they resort to dry fish in traditional way, they were able to attend the household chores whereas while using solar dryers they are not getting the consistency and often it becomes very hard and cracks also they are not able to do household chores. • Women’s awareness to market connectivity and intelligence is less. In aquaculture women play a dominant role and currently the potential for seaweed liquid fertilizer is high compared to dry sea weed and wet sea weed. But women lack in marketing and they are not aware of where to undergo training. She said that DoF (Department of Fisheries) have come forward to train small group, but even then, they are unaware to market. Compared to dry and wet seaweed they get a phenomenal price for liquid fertilizer which has a high potential but remains unexplored. There is a need to look into the liquid fertilizer potential as that of seaweed farming under PMMSY and address the concern. • In terms of decision-making in work front men are dominating in the decision making for investment in gear related activities. Whereas in home front the decision making to a certain extent only is jointly done by both. • It was discussed that for entrepreneurship any woman either from a general sector or from fisher community can come and there is no demarcation from government side. Since fisherman are marginal in nature and are in larger terms falling under below poverty line and to improve their wellbeing entrepreneur model is made. In fact, if more people come then it will encourage others also to participate more. • The refrigerant used in seafood processing is more organized as it caters to the export market, and it has to adhere to all the quality requirements. To improve the condition of women, the industry has to look at the working conditions and wages. • In domestic industry they are using ice which is of poor quality and if a better-quality refrigerant is used it will be a big boon to all the people involved and not just women. • Even men who catch the fish and bring it to the harbors have no control over that instead the auction agent, big traders and wholesalers control the market because of storage problem at the landing centres in harbor. • To overcome this problem technology should give better quality refrigeration system which will be a boon to fisher women who are selling in retail markets and in markets. • It was discussed that the waste generated is used for the fish meal industry and there’s a need to re look on whether it should go to the fish meal industry. Waste happens due to the improper cold storage facilities at each node (harbor/market) of the value chain. The waste that generated during fish cleaning is fine and it can be re used. The loss that matters is the one which could be available for human consumption but is presently not available because of various reasons like improper handling and lack of storage. If that could be improved, losses and wastage can be reduced. • Men workers are involved in fish catching and after that the complete work starting from auctioning, retailing and processing everything is carried out by woman. It was insisted that continuous skill training program should be given and importantly it should be evaluated without negligence. When a skill is imparted to group of women, how many have gained the knowledge and put into use that should be evaluated by conducting test. Support should be given to women involved in the fish drying activity for hygienic handling and usage of solar dryers. women prefer to work on hourly basis mainly to take care of their home. Tim to time skill training should be given to women to reduce the drudgery action in fish feed production. Women can play a major role through value-added product, but commercialization of the product is very important and that will be possible only when the involvement of industry takes place. • Number of value-added products are being developed but commercialization is done for certain products only. Once a product is commercialized quality control will be there. To reduce the wastage at production level proper storage facilities is important. • Now pink revolution is coming and there is a lot of importance for processing sector where women can be identified ass leaders. self-help groups should be created, and the skills should be practiced. They should be given opportunity to work in a collaborative way with a competitive spirit among themselves. • Also, to reduce the drudgery and to eliminate the unhygienic way of fish handling. Mobile kiosks wherein fresh fish vending is possible with the display table where the fisher women can sit comfortably and do the cleaning process and the fish can be preserved for six to seven hours and the consumer is also satisfied. • One of the participant gave insight on the socio-economic empowerment of fisher women, where 3 women from Kerala were evaluated who started earning ₹3,000 to ₹15,000 per month through fish vending & fish trading, 2 from Karnataka who started earning ₹30,000 to ₹40,000 per month from dry fish market, vending and establishment of ice factory and 1 from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu earned ₹12,000 to ₹20,000 through net making and fresh fish retailing. Learnings on how many women are really benefited were shared and the need for skill-oriented program was emphasized. Findings from the Stakeholder consultation: • Poor market infrastructure & training: basic facilities for storing, processing, and selling fish, clean toilets, access to potable running water, are usually not available. • Lack of training while handling all different kind of fishes • Lack of ice and proper storage facilities: Fish is a highly perishable commodity, and if vendors are to prevent spoilage and get a better price, they need to preserve the fish. They need access to ice and iceboxes but its unavailable. • Inadequate waste disposal measures: Waste generated are sent to dump collection areas by paying money for disposal of waste Way forward to enhance and enrich women’s participation in the sector: • Provision and facilities at existing markets (for water, sanitation, waste disposal) needs to be revamped. • Mobile fish vending facilities could be provided at a subsidized rate for better visibility and customer reach • Existing vendors should be involved in the redevelopment process at all stages. • Appropriate storage facilities in the market for keeping the fish safe. • The fishing community/women vendors should be an integral part of the process of developing new fish markets. • Training should be provided to fisherwomen on organizational skills, value addition, cutting tools, hygienic handling of fish & new types of fishes, financial management etc. ****************** ANNEXURE Agenda Session Details [5th July 2022 (Tuesday)] Mr. Dinesh Ghai 1430 – 1435 hrs Welcome address Principal Counsellor, CII GBC 1435 – 1445 hrs Introduction by Stakeholders Mr. Dinesh Ghai Principal Counsellor, CII GBC & Ms. Nidhi Batra 1445 – 1500 hrs Setting up the context: Skill Development and Capacity Building Specialist, The World Bank Status on Practices for strengthening the Ms. Nisha Menon 1500 – 1515 hrs participation of women in fisheries sector Chief Consultant, DESL value chains Inputs from the stakeholders on Opportunities, barriers, challenges & 1515 – 1545 hrs way forward for enhancing women’s participation in Fisheries sector 1545 – 1600 hrs Discussions & Closing remarks Participant list - Virtual Meeting [5th July 2022 (Tuesday): Time: 1430 – 1600 hrs.] Sl.No. Name Designation Company Name Organisers Principal 1 Mr. Dinesh Ghai Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Counsellor 2 Ms. Vinni Consultant Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) 3 Mr. Venkatesh D Consultant Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) 4 Mr. Vinod Reddy Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) 5 Ms. Nidhi Batra Consultant World Bank 6 Ms. Nisha Menon Chief Consultant Development Environergy Services Ltd. (DESL) Participants 1 Mr. Dilip Parasnis Director FORSTAR Frozen Foods Pvt Ltd Dr. Tarun Kumar DoF, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry 2 FRIO Singh and Dairying 3 Dr. N.Manimehalai Dean (incharge) College of Fisheries Engineering Sr technical 4 Mr. Nagaraj Kulkarni National Informatics Centre Director Mr. Nenavath 5 Senior Executive National Fisheries Development Board Rajendra Naik 6 Dr. Nikita Gopal Principal Scientist ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology ICAR-Vizhinjam Regional Center of Central Ms. P.S.SWATHI 7 Principal Scientist Marine Fisheries Research LEKSHMI Institute,Vizhinjam,Thiruvananthapuram Mr. Ram Prasad Senior Manager 8 Licious Nalacheruvu ESG 9 Dr. Vijaya Khader Former Dean Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University 10 Ms. Viji P Scientist ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology