The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) has set a target to export seafood products worth about INR 1 lakh crore (INR one trillion or USD 12.5 billion) from the country by 2025, said its Chairman K.N. Raghavan. Along with the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) Chief Executive C. Suvarna, Commissioner (Fisheries) K. Kanna Babu, MPEDA Director M. Karthikeyan, Secretary K. S. Pradeep and RGCA Director S. Kandan, Raghavan launched the golden jubilee celebrations of MPEDA.
Addressing the farmers, Raghavan said during 2021-22, India exported seafood worth about INR 57,586 crore (USD7.76 billion). Andhra Pradesh (AP) contributed 23.66% in quantity and 34.76% in terms of the total export value. He thanked AP aquaculture farmers for their contribution to the nation.
“MPEDA will be in the forefront to help the aqua farmers in the State, and encourage more farmers to come into the field, which has a good potential in AP,†he said.
“We are planning to export marine products, worth about INR one trillion and double the production and the exports from AP,†said Raghavan and sought the cooperation of the farmers in this regard. “AP led aquaculture production in the country followed by Gujarat, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. There is a lot of scope to enhance the production as there are abundant natural resources in the State.”
P. monodon BMC at Vizag
The Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture (RGCA), a research unit of MPEDA will set up a brood stock multiplication centre (BMC) for monodon shrimp, developed from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in Visakhapatnam soon. The pilot project was being established with the Department of Fisheries. He appealed to the farmers to produce disease-free shrimp as the consumers in the international market were preferring quality stocks without antibiotics.
“We are exporting marine products to many countries, including the US, European Union, South East Asia and Japan. More avenues are being explored,†he said.
Raghavan also interacted with farmers, hatchery owners, processing unit heads, exporters, feed and seed developers and other stakeholders. Along with S Kandan, he visited the RGCA’s GIFT Tilapia fish project and research unit at Manikonda village in Krishna district.
Diversification
C. Suvarna said that AP farmers were the leaders in the country, and advised them to diversify aquaculture and farm seabass, mud crab etc. “NFDB is extending loans to aqua farmers through Pradhan Manthri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) and the Fisheries Institute Development Fund (FIDF).â€
Kanna Babu stressed the need for increasing cage culture in sea, as the demand for shrimp and fish was growing fast. “Aquaculture ponds along the coast can be diversified for growing mud crab, seabass, tilapia, cobia, pompano and other varieties.” (source: The Hindu Times)
