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A gender-responsive methodology for fish loss assessment in the small-scale fisheries sector

  • Publication | 2025
Global Food and Nutrition Security

Globally, an estimated 27 percent of landed fish is lost or wasted between landing and consumption, and women are important actors along the fish value chain, making up around 50 percent of all actors involved and mainly participating in processing and value-adding activities in the fish supply chain.Traditional loss assessments have tended to focus on direct causes for losses like inadequate equipment, lack of infrastructures, poor processing facilities, without looking at the socio-cultural structures and gender relations in which value chain actors operate and that influence the distribution of power and rights, the division of labour and the roles and responsibilities of the different actors along the value chain, determining how and under which conditions women and men participate in value chain activities and associated decision-making processes.So-called gender-based constraints (GBCs) limit actors along the value chain to tap into their potential, which leads to lower productivity and inefficiencies, and ultimately to an underperformance of the chain, including fish losses. Consequently, GBCs reduce opportunities for women’s economic empowerment.The gender-responsive fish loss assessment methodology (GRFLAM) provides the conceptual framework and concrete approach to identify and analyse the limitations actors face due to gender inequalities along the value chain, as these GBCs can contribute to losses.

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Authors
Heyl, J.N.; Totobesola, M.;
Geographic coverageGlobal
Originally published

03 Oct 2025

Related organisation(s)FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Knowledge service | MetadataGlobal Food and Nutrition Security | Gender Equality and Food systems | Food loss and wasteSmallholder agriculture
Digital Europa Thesaurus (DET)aquaculturewomansustainable fisheriesvalue chaindesign methodologyassessmentgender equality
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