Role of Self Help Groups in Technology Transfer and Advancement of Mariculture

A Self Help Group (SHG) consists of members linked by a common bond like caste, sub-caste, community, place of origin, activity etc.. The Group Dynamics of these SHG’s refer to the interaction of forces between the members. It is the internal nature of the groups as to how they are formed, what their structures and processes are, how they function and affect the individual members and the organization. (Lewin et al.1960). In an intensive study of Group Dynamics, Pfeiffer and Jones (1972) identified the Group Dynamics factors as to how the group is organised, the manner in which the group is led, the amount of training in membership and leadership skills, the tasks given to the groups, its prior history of success or failure etc. Like any other sector of agriculture, women participation in aquaculture/mariculture remains largely unnoticed. When the question of adoption of new technology comes the women are rarely considered a target group. But since women constitute 50% of total population, negligence to bring them to the front line action is always a negative approach to the total development process. It is estimated that women carry out almost 70% of agricultural workload, but in aquaculture, their role has not been properly identified. May be it is due to the ignorance of women about the technology, cultural and social barriers, women perception and so on. Women’s role in fisheries is very significant and there is gender bias in respect of their works. This discrimination may be noted out from the country’s scenario through the economic upliftment of fisherwomen through appropriate policies, programmes and projects