The Centre is planning to develop infrastructure for fishing in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep, Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Rajiv Ranjan Singh, said on Tuesday. Addressing a press conference on the Ministry’s decisions in the first 100 days of the third term of the NDA government, Singh said that the government also plans to increase the seafood exports from Rs 60,000 crore in the last fiscal to Rs 1 lakh crore in the coming years, and for this, consultations with different stakeholders have started.
India is the 2nd largest fish producing country; therefore, its seafood exports should also be increased, he said. “We are also thinking about how we can develop fishing infrastructure in places like Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep where no infrastructure has been developed for fishing yet,” he said.
Besides, the government has also approved three smart fishing harbours with a cost of Rs 369.80 crore and these will be established in three states, Daman & Diu, Gujarat, and Puducherry, he said. Singh said that the government has also approved 5 integrated aqua parks—one each in five states—Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, and Arunachal Pradesh, with a cost of Rs 179.81 crore.
Highlighting the “important” contribution of the livestock sector in the economy, Singh said that India is the top producer of milk in the world. The livestock activities contribute 25 per cent of the agriculture sector, he said. Observing that the biggest challenge in the animal husbandry sector is that milk production is largely in the unorganised sector, Singh said the National Dairy Development Board has entered into MoUs with several states for this.