Domestic markets need to be developed: Pawar

India, which is an important aquaculture country in the world, has a potential to increase the fish production to 13.5 million tonne, according to Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar. The central government had set a target to produce 10 million tonne of fish by the end of this Plan Period.

Inaugurating the three-day Indian Fish Festival here on Saturday, he said that while focusing on increasing the fish production, there was also a need for developing a domestic market for ensuring remunerative prices to the producers by promoting fish as a health food.

With a coastline of 8,118 kilometre, India has an estimated potential of producing 4 million tonne of marine fish. Reservoirs, ponds and tanks and brackish water area offer production potential of another 9.5 million tonne, he said. India, which holds the third position in global production, contributed substantially to the world food basket and fish products constituted the largest group of agriculture exports from the country.

The annual growth rate of over four per cent in fisheries is indicative of the immense opportunity in the coming years. In this context, the central government is exploring possibilities for integrated development of fishery sector. “If we have to grow out agriculture at 4 per cent, the fish and animal husbandry sectors should grow at 6 per cent,” he said, adding that utilisation of the available resources would be pivotal for the growth to happen.

The new technologies developed for enhanced productivity should be taken to the doorstep of the users, he said.

There is scope for developing ornamental fishery in a big way. Though the ornamental fish business all over the world is around $325 million (about Rs 1,625 crore), it is yet to pick up in India. There is potential to provide self employment, particularly to women, through ornamental fish production as a vocation, Pawar said.

Earlier, he laid the foundation for the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) building at Rajendranagar on the city outskirts. The new building is coming up on five acre at an estimated cost of Rs 20 crore.