BHUBANESWAR: Eyeing for six-fold growth in seafood exports to Rs 20,000 crore, the State government is facilitating infrastructure development such as improvement of fishing harbors to meet the target, said Fisheries and Animal Husbandry Minister Arun Sahoo.
“Odisha has a huge potential to augment exports of seafood. We have set a target to increase the seafood export by six times to give a boost to the income of the people in the fish trade,” said Sahoo on the occasion of World Fisheries Day.
Addressing a function here, the Minister said that the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Odisha has shown an impressive growth of 18.98 pc with production of around 8.16 lakh tonnes of fish during 2019-20. The average annual growth rate of the fish production in the State over the last 5 years is over 14 pc, he added.
The Minister said the seafood exports from the State has increased by 78 pc in the last 5 years from Rs 1,817 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 3,243 crore in 2019-20. The State exported over 66,000 tons of seafood, the majority of which is frozen shrimp. He said the Odisha received the ‘Best Marine State’ award and Kalahandi district received the Best District award in Inland fisheries from the Centre in New Delhi on Saturday.
The ‘Best Marine State’ award carries a financial incentive of Rs 10 lakh while the ‘Best Inland District’ award for Kalahandi District carries a financial incentive of Rs 3 lakh. He said the Fisheries department has plans ready to enhance shrimp production by harnessing brackish water resources through leasing.
The results of Mo Pokhari and the scheme to lease out panchayat ponds t o women SHGs are very encouraging. The Minister felicitated two fishermen, two women SHGs, two primary fishermen cooperative societies, and two successful entrepreneurs for improved fish production both inland and brackish water.