Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Information and Broadcasting L. Murugan on Tuesday stated that Andhra Pradesh’s 36% share in the country’s marine exports was helping the country stay on track to meet its export target of ₹1 lakh crore by 2024.
“The total worth of India’s marine exports stood at ₹59,000 crore in the last financial year. Andhra Pradesh’s share accounts for 36%. An amount of ₹7,500 crore is being spent on construction of new harbours with the Fisheries Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu to improve the marine exports by 2024,” said Mr. Murugan
Mr. Murugan, accompanied by Kakinada MP Vanga Geetha and district officials, inspected shrimp hatcheries and interacted with the fisherfolk on the Uppada coast on Tuesday. He also inspected the projects granted by the National Fisheries Development Board and Indian Council of Agriculture Research..
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Speaking to reporters after inspecting a shrimp hatchery at Konapapeta near Uppada in Kakinada district, Mr. Murugan said that fisheries was the only sector to have not been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr. Murugan was in Kakinada district on a two-day tour to interact with beneficiaries of Central government schemes.
“The Central government had invested ₹32,500 crore on the fisheries sector since 2014. In the 2013-14 financial year, the investment in the sector was barely ₹4,000 crore. The Blue Revolution launched in 2015 is changing the face of fisheries sector,” said Mr. Murugan.
Seaweed park
“The Andhra Pradesh government can propose a seaweed park. The Centre is willing to grant one for the State to improve the livelihood opportunities for fisherfolk,” said Mr. Murugan. a seaweed park for the State to improve livelihood opportunities for the fisherfolk”, said Mr. Murugan.
Mr. Murugan claimed that Visakhapatnam harbour is one of the five harbours in the country that were being modernised to give a fillip to marine exports.
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