Govt to invest Rs 25k crore in fisheries

Investment worth more than Rs 25,000 crore will be made in the next five years to promote the fisheries sector that has opportunities to double farmers’ income, Union Minister Giriraj Singh said on September 19.

The fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying minister said a separate ministry has been carved out to focus more on the sector which has huge potential to enhance the income of farmers.

“We are going to invest approximately Rs 25,000 crore in the next five years in the sector,” Singh said after releasing a handbook ‘Fisheries Statistics - 2018’ in New Delhi.

Investment will be done through three components - about Rs 10,000 crore will be spent through the newly launched Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, about Rs 12,860 crore will be funded through the World Bank and Rs 7,532 crore will be sanctioned through the Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF).

Already seven major harbours and 181 fishing landing centres have been set up. The government is encouraging setting up of such infrastructure to improve the post harvesting management that will ensure quality of fish and help fetch better price, he added.

Under the FIDF, the minister said the Centre is providing interest subsidy to the state governments for setting up infrastructure in the fisheries sector. So far, Rs 2,100 crore has been sanctioned.

Many new projects are underway. For instance, a trial project on cage cultivation is being conducted in Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu. About Rs 300 crore has been released to Tamil Nadu for deep-sea fishing.

On exports, Singh said the government aims to achieve fish and fish products export worth Rs 1 lakh crore in the next five years from the current level of Rs 45,000 crore.

Background

The fisheries sector is a major source of livelihood for more than 1.60 crore people along with double the number in down and upstream.

Development of fisheries can ensure nutritional security, food security of India and also provide employment in these regions that are predominantly inhabited by rural populace.

As per latest data, the country’s fish production was 12.59 million tonnes during 2017-18 fiscal, with a contribution of 8.90 million tonnes from inland sector and 3.69 metric tonnes from the marine sector.

During 2017-18, India exported 1.37 million tonnes of fish and fish production valued at Rs 45,106.90 crore.

The percentage contribution of inland fish production in the total fish production of 29 per cent during 1950-51 and has increased to 71 per cent in 2017-18.

Andhra Pradesh has recorded the highest production of inland fish (34.50 lakh tonnes) whereas Gujarat is the leading state in marine fish (7.01 lakh tonnes) in the country.