Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham has been collaborating in an international project titled as Fish for food security in city regions (Fish4food), since 2016, involving two countries Ghana and India. The objective of this research is to investigate the flow of fish to the urban low-income communities though the marketplaces. This project is funded by Netherlands organisation for scientific research (NWO) for the period 2016 to 2021, having a budget of 750 thousand euros. This project is headed by Dr. Maarten Bavinck, University of Amsterdam. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeethamis the nodal partner in conducting research in India. Dr. Amalendu Jyotishi (then working in Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham) spearheaded the project and lead the research and data collection work in India from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Dr. Priya Gupta of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham is a collaborator in this project since 2019, researching on fish consumption behaviour among low-income households in Chennai and Bangalore.
The project “Fish for food security in city regions of India and Ghana: an interregional innovation project (Fish4Food)” studies the food systems that service low-income consumers in selected city regions of South Asia (India) and West Africa (Ghana), with the aim of improving their quality and scope.
The Sustainable Development Goals that this project focuses include Goal 2- Zero hunger, Goal 5-Gender equality and Goal 14- life below water.
To recognize new knowledge on emerging issues in food security. The Fish4Food project aligns with this objective by realizing new knowledge, products, practices and policies at various levels of the low-price fish chain (from local to international) that improve food and nutritional security of the urban poor.
The project has two aims namely, first to understand the present state of fisheries-related food security in selected city regions, the second one is to find innovation to improve food security through fisheries. The project makes use of a mixed-methods approach.
At mid review of the project, an improvement from research perspective to innovation in low-price fish chains in West Africa (Ghana) and South Asia (India) was seen. A basic understanding of the functioning of low-price fish chains as they travel from shore to coastal and inland urban consumers is achieved. A complementary survey among low-income households, in order to identify their seafood-related food security and their views on impediments with regard to the availability, accessibility, and quality of seafood is also conducted. [ Refer ]
