Issues and Challenges in the Formation of Women Activity Clusters in Fisheries

The fisheries sector has been declared as a sunrise sector, given its potential for employment generation, export earnings and its role in the nutritional security of the country. The value chain in fisheries would ideally involve the primary producer, the processor and the marketing link before the fish comes to the consumer. As of now, there is a very limited value addition in the chain and the product passes through the various stages of marketing in the domestic market and reaches the consumer largely in the primary form. Changing consumer preferences, especially in urban areas, necessitates the introduction of the concept of value addition. This is especially so in fish species that is available cheap during a glut. This article presents the case of an intervention carried out in Chellanam fishing village in Kerala under the National Agricultural Innovation Project sub-project ‘Responsible Harvesting and Utilization of Selected Small Pelagics and Freshwater Fishes’. The intervention was the formation of post-harvest activity clusters of fisherwomen of the traditional marine fisheries sector, for operation and management of a community based processing facility that would take up primary value addition of the small pelagic fish, such as sardine, mackerel and anchovies. The intervention also aimed at empowering the fisherwomen.