Andhra set to surpass Bengal in fish production

With an expected fresh water fish production of 1.2 million tonne this year as against 765,000 tonne last year, Andhra Pradesh is set to replace West Bengal (WB) as the top producer of fish in the country.

According to Arvind Kumar, state commissioner of fisheries, the overall fish production in Andhra is estimated to touch 1.4 million tonne this year as against 1.3 million tonne in West Bengal. In addition to fresh water fish, the state will be harvesting 260,000 tonne of marine fish and 40,000 tonne of brackish water shrimp. Andhra is already the top producer of brackish water shrimps in the country.

While making the production estimates, he said, 40 per cent mortality rate had been taken into consideration. At a conservative estimate of Rs 25 a kg, the value of fresh water fish production would be about Rs 2,900 crore. Harvesting of fish would start from this month.

Kumar told Business Standard that the over 50 per cent rise in inland fish production was on account of over two-fold increase in fish seed stocking and four-fold increase in water spread area covered. Fish seed stocking increased from 193.3 million last year to 413.8 million this year while the water spread area had gone up to 700,000 hectares from 175,000 hectares.

By utilising the funds available from various agencies, the state government had supplied fish seed at 50 per cent subsidy to fishermen cooperative societies for stocking in tanks and at free of cost for stocking in reservoirs. In the process, the government had also ensured seed stocking in all 57,605 tanks and 27 large reservoirs in the state.

The state spent Rs 27.7 crore towards supply of seed to fishermen this year. Of this, Rs 17.8 crore was sanctioned by the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB). The other agencies, which contributed to the programme, include Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and AP Community-based Tank Management Project, a World Bank-assisted project.

Kumar said a total of 750,000 fishermen, who hitherto depended upon middlemen for working capital requirements, were benefitted under the programme. The value of the additional production, which would directly accrue to the fishermen, was estimated at Rs 724.15 crore.

The state governments of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are now trying to adopt the AP model and have submitted their proposals in this regard to NFDB for assistance.