Andhra farmers lobby for fisheries board

The fish farmers of Andhra Pradesh (AP) have appealed to the central government to establish the proposed National Fisheries Development Board in the state.

They have urged Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy to take up the issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

Y Nagendranath, president, Andhra Pradesh Rythanga Samakhya, said, "Reddy is now the chairman of the Aqua Commission of the National Development Council (NDC). The state deserves to be selected as the headquarter of the proposed board and the chief minister should take initiative in this regard."

He said, "The state accounts for over one-third (8 lakh tonne) of the country's fish production every year. Of the national production of three lakh tonne shrimp, Andhra accounts for one lakh tonne. Its domination is total in scampi shrimp production too. Yet none of the 12 major national research institutions connected with agriculture is located in the state."

He said the Andhra farmers have provided field training in pisciculture to farmers from other states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Haryana.

"While China, the world leader in fish farming, produces only 6-7 tonne of fish per hectare, Andhra farmers harvest 10 tonne fish per hectare," Nagendranath claimed.

He said, "While the maximum size of a Chinese fish pond is only one hectare, it is over 70 acres in Andhra."

According to him, the fishing industry does not get any subsidy or concession from the government.

"These farmers do not seek free power. All that they want is uninterrupted power supply for seven hours as promised by the government. Again, while value-added tax (VAT) was waived on poultry and cattle feed, it has been retained on fish feed. The government should now scrap the present 4 per cent tax on fish feed."

He said fish consumption is very low in the country at 4.5 kg per person per year as against the FAO's (Food and Agriculture Organisation) standard of 35 kg per person.

If the Centre and the state, through the proposed board, launch a vigorous campaign to increase domestic fish consumption to even 10 kg, the fisheries sector would benefit a great deal.