VIJAYAWADA: After the constitution of the Empowered Committee by the State government, the prices of aqua feed and seeds were controlled six times aiding the aqua farmers, said the committee members, including ministers Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, Botcha Satyanarayana and Seediri Appalaraju.
The Empowered Committee, which met at the State Secretariat on Tuesday, said that aqua farmers suffered losses in the absence of a regulatory mechanism to control the prices of aqua feed and seed in the past. Out of the total aqua zone spread over an area of 4.65 lakh acres, as much as 3.26 lakh acres, which was under the farmers’ hold having less than 10 acres, got eligible for electricity subsidy.
Saying that the aqua sector in the State faced hardships due to the fluctuations in international market, the panel said that the time-to-time meetings by the empowered committee yielded the desired results for the upliftment of the sector.
As per the decision taken up by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to provide power subsidy to the aqua farmers, the government conducted an e-fish survey and identified that 46,433 aqua electricity connections are eligible for the subsidy, the panel informed, adding that subsidy facility extended to another 4,230 electricity connections going by the applications received from farmers. Power subsidy will be given to the new connections from November 1, they added.
Stating that Rs 240 was fixed as price for a kilogram of 100 count prawns, the empowered committee made it clear that the merchants should not purchase at lesser prices than the prescribed amount.Special Chief Secretary (Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries) Gopal Krishna Dwivedi, Commissioner (Fisheries) Kanna Babu and other officials were present.