VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation (AP Chambers) will be organising a seminar on ‘Entrepreneurship and Empowerment in Aqua Industry’ in Vijayawada on March 27, to create an awareness on the opportunities in the sector.
In a press release, AP Chambers chairman Malineni Rajaiah said that the State has a 974-km long coastline, the second longest in the country, and had 2.12 lakh hectares of aquaculture area as of 2021, according to the National Fisheries Development Board website.
“A study has shown that strict quality standards, low price realisation, trade barriers, inadequate infrastructure facilities, no information about foreign markets, poor government support, legal procedures, high operational cost, tough competition, and inadequate value-added projects are the challenges faced by the industry,” Malineni Rajaiah maintained.
The Chambers said Indian fisheries have recently seen a paradigm shift from inland to marine-dominated fisheries, with the latter becoming a major contributor to fish output, from 36% in mid 1980s to 70% in the recent past. With a 34% share in inland fisheries in the mid 1980s, freshwater aquaculture expanded to 76 per cent, he said.