Com Min launches e-governance initiatives for marine sector

In a move aimed at providing single window solution to exporters and other stakeholders of the marine products industry, the government today launched various e-governance tools including a mobile app for aquaculture under the 'Digital India' programme.
Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched two programmes - shrimp price information over SMS by a missed call, and m-KRISHI, a mobile app to provide all kinds of information to the aqua farmers.
The minister also launched an online MPEDA (Marine Products Export Development Authority) registration portal for exporters and a modern portal for the authority.
These two portals would providing single window solution to exporters and other stakeholders.

Through the sms service, shrimp farmers can get the price Information in the local language by giving a missed call.
The two main varieties of shrimps are - L Vannamei and Black Tiger (BT). In 2014-15, about 3.53 lakh tonnes of Vannamei shrimp and 71,400 tonnes of BT was produced.

On receipt of the missed call, information on price of Vannamei and BT shrimp for different grades in major markets like Japan, USA and EU are provided by SMS.
Farmers can dial "+918590100800" for getting price information on Vannamei shrimp and "+918590200800" for getting price information on BT shrimp.
The price information to farmers will enable them to make an informed decision on harvest of their produce, an official statement said.

The service is provided free of cost to farmers and the the information can be obtained by farmers all over India.
The m-KRISHI mobile app, which is a pilot project presently operated in Gujarat, will be extended all over India in next three months.
This app will provide an easy tool for book keeping, advisory services and weather informations to the farmers.
"It is an Android mobile application which has been developed by MPEDA and TCS Innovation Lab, Mumbai (as part of its CSR initiative)," it added.
The app being used in a large scale can provide the trend of aquaculture activities across the country.

The online MPEDA registration portal for exporters would help in reducing transactions cost.
Presently the process is being done manually and an exporter are required to submit a physical application in the prescribed format along with certain mandatory documents.
The objective of the new system is to facilitate ease of doing business and thereby provide the enabling environment for exporters to export more seafood from India.
The modern MPEDA portal - www.Mpeda.Gov.In - would provide extensive information to the industry.
India's marine product export is expected to grow by around 20 per cent to USD 6.6 billion this fiscal. The export increased by 10 per cent to USD 5.51 billion in 2014-15.