Kochi: The government’s proposals for the creation of a separate department for fisheries and a 2% interest subvention on loans to fish farmers will help boost shrimp production and exports, expects the seafood industry.
India was the top producer of aquaculture shrimps in the world at more than 6 lakh tonnes last fiscal year, when exports of seafood, primarily shrimps, earned the country Rs 45,000 crore in foreign currency. Fisheries is at present clubbed with animal husbandry and dairy under the agriculture ministry, and having a dedicated department will help focus more on the development of the sector.
“It will help in quicker decisions at the administrative level for fisheries and seafood, being an exportoriented industry, will definitely benefit,” said S Chandrasekhar, president of the Society of Aquaculture Professionals. This has been a long-pending demand of the industry, he added.
“We hope that there will be a secretary for fisheries under the department whom we will be able to approach directly. For instance, our demands like quarantine facility for aquaculture can be easily settled,” said V Balasubramaniam, general secretary of the Prawn Farmers Federation of India.
Balasubramaniam said 2% interest subvention proposed for fish farmers and those hit by calamities will help the industry. Recently, the Gaja cyclone had hit shrimp farmers in parts of Tamil Nadu.
Kenny Thomas, managing director of seafoods exporter Jinny Marine Traders in Gujarat, sought more clarity on interest subvention. “The announcement says farmers pursuing fisheries and animal husbandry will get interest subvention. But we need to clarify whether it applies to river fisherman or in general including shrimp farmers,” he said.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com