Bhubaneswar: Despite a perceptible recession in the market, seafood export from Odisha has crossed Rs 3,000 crore in 2018-19 financial year.
President of Sea Food Exporters’ Association of India (Odisha Region) Kamalesh Mishra has said this while addressing a meeting held here in the presence of Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy, Wednesday evening.
Mishra said the seafood industry has achieved this milestone due to the facilitating and promotional policies of the government during the previous years.
Considering the proposals given by the association for development of brackish water aquaculture in Odisha, Tripathy directed the Fisheries and Animal Resources Development (F&ARD) department to expedite power and road connectivity to all the identified clusters.
The Chief Secretary said, “Since the sector has vast scope for employment generation and enhancement of economic activity at the ground level, the government is committed to provide infrastructural support to make the sector more competitive in international market.”
F&ARD secretary R Raghu Prasad said 107 brackish water aquaculture clusters have been identified in various places of the state mostly along the continental shelf. Out of this, 19 have been taken up for development in first phase.
Orissa Space Application Centre (ORSAC) through satellite imagery has identified around 3,000 hectars of land suitable for brackish water aquaculture.
The Chief Secretary directed preparation of a timeline for power and road connectivity to all these clusters.
Fisheries director N Thirumala Nayak said, “Odisha seafood finds its major market in Eastern Europe, Japan, China, Middle East and south eastern Asian countries.”
Issues relating to creation of captive aquaculture farms for the exporters, value addition and product innovation in the sector, early release of subsidy to the farmers and exporters, development of road connectivity, land allotment for seafood parks, establishment of viral test and quality certification lab among others were discussed in the meeting.
The executive members of the association expressed their concern over shifting of Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) office from Odisha to Kolkata. They emphatically mentioned that the shifting of the office, which had been operating in Odisha for the last three decades, would create more difficulties for Odisha exporters in coming days.
Tripathy interacted with individual exporters to know their problems and gave necessary instructions to the department for early resolution.
