Lack of infrastructure being the stumbling block in the growth of the fisheries sector in the Indian State of Odisha, the Government on Thursday decided to prioritise infrastructural support like road and power connectivity to 125 identified fishing clusters.
The departments of Rural Development and Water Resources were asked to focus on construction of roads to identified clusters, while the Energy department will ensure dedicated power supply to the fish farms.
Though the State Government has formulated a land lease policy for aquaculture, entrepreneurs are not getting desired support from district administrations.
This policy is very critical for the aquaculture sector. But there must be monitoring at the level of the Chief Secretary to oversee the implementation of the policy, said a functionary of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).These are some of the critical issues which were discussed at a high level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary JK Mohapatra here. After reviewing the status reports of the fishing clusters, Mohapatra asked district collectors concerned to dispose of the applications for land on lease for shrimp culture expeditiously.
With a fresh water area of 6.73 lakh hectare and brackish water area of 4.18 lakh hectare along with 480 kms of coastal line, the State has the potential to produce 6.5 lakh tonnes of fishery products annually.
Sources said total shrimp production in the State has increased to 1,68,585 tonnes in 2012-13 from 1,33,893 tonnes in 2011-12 registering a growth of 25.91 per cent. The growth in terms of value of this product is around 26.31 per cent.
Similarly, the vannamei shrimp production in the State has been enhanced to 91,610 tonnes in 2012-13 against the production of 48,430 tonnes in 2011-12 recording a growth of 89.16 per cent. At present, about 2.95 per cent of population are engaged in fishing and contribution of fishery to gross State domestic product is around 6 per cent.
2012 The New Indian Express