Investment worth over Rs 25,000 crore will be made in the next five years to promote the fisheries sector that has opportunities to double farmers' income, union Minister Giriraj Singh said on Thursday.
The fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying minister said a separate ministry has been carved out to focus more on the sector which has huge potential to enhance the income of farmers.
"We are going to invest approximately Rs 25,000 crore in the next five years in the sector," Singh told reporters after releasing a handbook 'Fisheries Statistics - 2018' here.
Investment will be done through three components -- about Rs 10,000 crore will be spent through the newly launched Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, about Rs 12,860 crore will be funded through the World Bank and Rs 7,532 crore will be sanctioned through the Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF).
Already seven major harbours and 181 fishing landing centres have been set up. The government is encouraging setting up of such infrastructure to improve the post harvesting management that will ensure quality of fish and help fetch better price, he added.
Under the FIDF, the minister said the Centre is providing interest subsidy to the state governments for setting of up infrastructure in the fisheries sector. So far, Rs 2,100 crore has been sanctioned.
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Many new projects are underway. For instance, a trial project on cage cultivation is being conducted in Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu. About Rs 300 crore has been released to Tamil Nadu for deep-sea fishing.
On exports, Singh said the government aims to achieve fish and fish products export worth Rs 1,00,000 crore in the next five years from the current level of Rs 45,000 crore.
"There has been steady growth in the export of fish and fish products over the period. Efforts are being made to boost the export potential through diversification of products for export," he said.
On consumption, the minister said that per capita consumption is 4.58 kg in India, compared to an average 20 kg at the global level.
"We cannot force someone to eat fish. It will depend on each individual choice and their pockets. However, there has been increase in the consumption over a period of time," he noted.
As per latest data, the country's fish production was 12.59 million tonnes during 2017-18 fiscal, with a contribution of 8.90 million tonnes from inland sector and 3.69 metric tonnes from marine sector.
During 2017-18, India exported 1.37 million tonnes of fish and fish production valued at Rs 45,106.90 crore.
India is currently world's the second largest producer of fish and number two in aquaculture production as well as in inland capture fisheries.