Herbal Medicine: Open Access

Abstract

India has rich and varied inland fisheries resources in the form of pond, reservoirs, rivers, lake etc. agriculture, forest & craft was the only source of livelihood for these fisherwomen,  intense efforts are being made at upgrading the skills of women and providing them with greater opportunities and demand for smoked fish in fisheries sector in the Satpudha region in Madhya Pradesh, India. The Jabalpur Division in M.P. is the largest smoked fish market, where smoke fish from almost all nearby districts is brought, traded and taken to the other districts in the region. The fisherwomen of this area are mostly involved is fish farming and are eaters of smoked local fishes. Fisherwomen have involved various technologies in fisheries over a period of time by trial and error, continuous observations and evaluation to use the traditional practices in this field. The specific objectives of this study were to document, methods and utility of indigenous knowledge of fisherwomen for smoking of fishes as medicine for cough & cold in Chhindwara district and to explore their own rationale behind the use of this knowledge. Traditional processing techniques are in harmony with socio-economic condition imposed by the alternating floods and recessions of the river system migration of fish and fishermen, absence of freshwater fish pond, strong traditional marketing system for wet and dried fish, prawn and traditional food habits and also traditional medicine for cure of cough, fever and cold for their communities. The present study on smoke fish at Chhindwara district reveals that the quality of smoke fish general is very good.  Consumers of smoke fish in this region are poor tribal labourers working in plantations; estates coal mines and weaker sections in the society