BERHAMPUR: The dry fish market at Humma in Ganjam district, believed to be Asia’s largest, wears a deserted look with most vendors waiting keenly for buyers. The market used to come alive on Sundays when consumers and traders from within the State and outside visited it to buy dried fish. But the scenario has changed now as absence of buyers and shortage of salt required to preserve fresh fish has hit those in the business. Salt is produced on over 30,000 acre of land in the district.
Since locally produced salt is available in plenty and is cheap, fishermen use it to dry the fish and preserve it. However, the price of salt has almost doubled from Rs 170 to Rs 340 for a 50 kg bag over the last few months. Around 8-10 kg salt is needed to produce a quintal of dried fish. “Post lockdown, price of salt doubled and this has made production of dried fish commercially unviable,” said Ramesh Behera, a fisherman. A few families engaged in the task have switched to commercial salt for drying fish but it has increased the price of the end product.
Fishermen procure locally produced salt from salt beds near Humma. But production of salt at Humma Binchanapalli Salt Production and Sales Cooperative has dwindled considerably over last few years. This has affected mass production of dried fish. Samudram, a community-based federation of women self-help groups too has reduced production of dried fish and other value-added seafood products, said its managing director, B Chitamma. Earlier, Samudram used to export dried fish to other states.
The federation has resumed production of dried fish but in a much lesser scale, said convenor of Odisha Marine Resources Conservation Consortium, Mangaraj Panda. A few such groups have started making dried fish without salt but its demand is less as it is mostly used for manufacturing poultry feed. In 2018, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone for a hygienic dry fish market at Humma. But the pandemic forced the market to close down.
Once it opened after the lockdown, business was never the same again. There was a time when the market used to record transactions worth Rs 50-Rs 60 lakh a week. After lockdown restrictions were eased, commercial establishments opened but there was no word on the dry fish market. Administration says it has no instructions for reopening the market but allows traders to open their outlets. However, it does not help the traders who are waiting for better days. Meanwhile, the project report for the hygienic dry fish market has been prepared and soon work will taken up, said administration sources.