Rajeev Ranjan, Secretary, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Govt of India, opined that sustainable development is key to increasing the competitiveness in the fisheries sector. “Reducing post-harvest losses in fisheries to less than 10% is extremely important,” he added.
Speaking at FICCI webinar on ‘Developing Competitiveness in Fisheries Sector’, Ranjan said, “Per capita consumption in India is substantially low in fisheries compared to global levels. Therefore, development of domestic market and increasing per capita consumption needs a focused approach.” He added that investment in fishing harbours, value addition and promotion of Mariculture will boost the sector.
Venkat R Nekkanti, Managing Director, Nekkanti Sea Food, said, “The country has set an ambitious fish production target of 22mn MT by 2025 which signifies adding 10mn MT in the next 5 years.” He added that on demand side, it is imperative to widen domestic consumption base with a strong thrust on value-added products. Nekkanti stressed that we took 35 years to add the last 10mn MT production and it is time to do meticulous planning.
Shashikant Singh, Director, Agriculture & Natural Resources, GRID, PwC, said, “Sustainable practices coupled with emphasis on Fishtech & requisite infrastructure augmentation along with domestic market development is the key to boost the fisheries sector.”
Highlighting the need to promote sustainable models in this sector, Devleena Bhattacharjee, Founder & CEO, Numer8 Analytics said, “Development of efficient supply-chain, controlling wastages and building strong traceability mechanism in partnership with private sector, is crucial for future growth of fisheries sector.” She added that sustainable fishing practices should be promoted and subsidies should be awarded to farmers adhering to sustainable fishing methods.
Hemendra Mathur, Chairman, FICCI Task Force on Agri startups & Venture Partner, Bharat Innovation Fund said, “New age innovations connecting fishermen with the markets can go a long way in transforming the sector.”
FICCI-PwC promulgated Ten-point agenda to enhance competitiveness in fisheries sector:
1. Incentivise private sector for establishment of brood banks / facilities to improve availability and genetics of Brood stock.
2. Forging Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in development of Integrated value chain infrastructure – Mega Fisheries parks.
3. Enabling sustained and inclusive growth of sector through promotion of Fish Farmer Producer Companies (FFPCs).
4. Establishment of PPP based Aqua Skill Development Centres (ASDCs) to create sustained employment opportunities in sector.
5. Introducing efficiency through PPPs for establishing Modern Integrated Fish Harbours (MIFH).
6. Modernizing FISHCOPFED to a state-of-the-art institution with end to end modernized & revamped support to the sector.
7. Augmenting domestic market development activities through value chain interventions and suitable partnerships.
8. Promoting “fishTech” to improve Efficiency, Traceability and Sustainability (ETS) in supply chain.
9. Promoting “Ease of Doing fisheries Business” in the sector to unleash the private investment potential.
10. Aligning sectoral growth with goals of Blue economy: Promoting economic growth, social inclusion and improvement of livelihoods.
