New Delhi: The Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shri Radha Mohan Singh has said that due to rapid increase in fisheries and aquaculture, the income of fish farmers and farmers is constantly increasing and in the coming days it will benefit fish farmers and farmers at a large scale. Shri Radha Mohan Singh said this on the occasion of World Fisheries Day, today in a ceremony organized by Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
Shri Radha Mohan Singh said that development of the livestock is the best strategy for doubling the farmers’ income. Due to this reason the budget for 2016-17 for this department is kept at Rs. 1700 crore, which is 21 % higher than the last year budget. The Union Minister said that it is the matter of pride that this year more than 72 % of the budget has been released for the development of the states, which has never happened in the past. Shri Singh said that now, it is the responsibility of the states to spend it properly and should not do fund parking.
The Union Minister said that fish farming will have three benefits firstly, increase in the farmers income secondly, there will be progress in the country’s export and GDP and thirdly it will ensure nutritional and food security in the country.
Shri Radha Mohan Singh told that from last six months, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fishery is formulating many new schemes by its strenuous efforts. The department has launched “Rashtriya Gokul Mission” for the breed improvement of indigenous cows and for cattle, goats and sheep higher breed development; it has launched “National Livestock Mission”. Shri Singh explained that for the year 2014-15, production of milk was Rs. 4.92 lakh crore which was more than 37% from paddy and wheat combined. Accordingly to the estimate for the year 2015-16, there was about Rs. 1 lakh crore value fisheries production within the country.
The Union Minister said that in fish production, India is constantly at the second position after China. Fisheries are a big sector in the country and around 150 lakh people are engaged in fisheries business. India has first place in the world in the area of shrimp fish and it is the largest exporter of shrimp fish. Shri said that taking all fisheries production together, there was estimated 10.8 million tones fish production in the country in year 2015-16, which is around 6.4 per cent of total fish production of the world. India is the second largest country in the world to produce fish from aquaculture (42.10 lakh tones). It contributes about 6.3 percent in global aquaculture. From the last decade, where the average annual growth rate of export of fish and fisheries production in the world remaining 7.5 per cent, Indian remain at the first place with an average annual growth rate of 14.8 per cent in the export of fisheries product.
Shri Singh said in the last two and half years, his government has constantly made new schemes in the interests of fisheries sector and farmers and has implemented them successfully throughout the country. Agriculture Minister said that success of fisheries is also a result of constant efforts of the government. World Fisheries Day is also being organized from the last two years after the formation of the government. The Minister said that Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi has given the slogan and vision for the complete development of India-to double the income of the farmers. To achieve this target, government has laid emphasis on the development of the fisheries and its target is to double the income of the fishers, fishermen and farmers by 2022 through aquaculture and marine fisheries.
Shri Radha Mohan Singh told that with a fish production of 72.1 lakh tones from the Indian fisheries, India has second place in the world. India can achieve about 8 per cent growth rate in Indian fishery. The Minister said that looking at the large potential in the development of the fisheries, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has called for “Blue Revolution” in the field of fisheries. Thereafter, ministry has merged all the existing schemes and started a Rs. 3000 crore umbrella scheme “Blue Revolution; Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries”. This scheme includes in land fisheries, aquaculture, marine fisheries comprising of deep sea fishing, mariculture and all the activities of national fisheries development board (NFDB).
Shri Singh informed that Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries has prepared a National Fisheries Action Plan 2020 (NFAP) for the next five years to increase fish production and productivity and to achieve the target of blue revolution. In this Action Plan all the different fisheries resources of the country like ponds and tanks, wetlands, brackish water, cold water, lakes reservoirs, rivers and canals and marine sectors are included. All the states / UTs have been requested to prepare State Action Plan (SAP) for the next five years to achieve the objective of blue revolution according to NFAP 2020. The Minister said the aim of Blue Revolution scheme is to increase the fish production and productivity by 8 per cent annual growth rate and to reach 15 million tones mark by 2020. Efforts are being made to bring a “National inland fisheries Policy” along with new “National Marine Fisheries Policy”, which will decide an overall and integrated growth frame work in the area of inland fisheries throughout the country.
Shri Radha Mohan Singh said that around 26.869 hectares area has been developed for the aquaculture which has benefited 63,372 fishermen. He said that during the last two years, under fishermen welfare, construction of 9,603 fishermen houses have been assisted whereas 20,705 fishermen have been trained and around 50 lakh fishermen have been provided with annual insurance assistance.
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Sudarshan Bhagat, Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fishery, Shri Devendra Chaudhry and other officers of various Ministries and Departments were also present on the occasion
