October 8, 2008

 

 

Changing market dynamics would require pro-active intervention in India's fish farming industry, according to G Mohan Kumar, IAS, Chairman of MPEDA (Marine Products Export Development Agency).

 

India's marine sector is ranked third among fish producing countries but faces multiple issues, Mr Kumar told India's Commodity Online.

 

The country's seafood export industry has been beset by problems such as availability of raw material, outdated technology and food safety standards that fail to meet requirements of the EU, the largest market for India's fish products.

 

India has a potential land area of 1.2 billion hectares for aquaculture but only a fifth of it is utilised.

 

The country's fish catch has fallen 11.6 percent in 2007-08 to 71,000 tonnes. Exports have been heavily concentrated on shrimp.

 

Also, capacity utilization at seafood processors in India remain low, incurring huge costs for the industry as machines remain idle. 

 

The country's black tiger shrimp is facing increasing competition from Vannamei, which is much cheaper but easily cultivated and relatively disease free.

 

Kumar said India should look at diversifying shrimp production to expand the recently approved Vannamei species and source for large-sized black tiger.

 

The country also needs to spend more on research and development. Towards this end, the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture has been given bigger budgets to take on larger projects.

 

Also, the budget for MPEDA has recently been doubled to Rs 450 crore (US$92.3 million ) for the 11th Plan as against Rs 220 crore in the 10th Plan period. One-fifth of that budget would be devoted to R&D and marketing.

 

MPEDA is also engaging Lintas, one of India's major advertising agencies, for brand promotion, with its target on foreign consumers for the first time instead of exporting in bulk like it used to.

 

On the subject of traceability, Kumar said that although India would like 100 percent traceability, the task is difficult as India's farms are mostly small and the numbers are huge.

 

To deal with the issue, MPEDA has promoted cluster-based farming, where farmers are organised into groups to facilitate communications and thus improve traceability. 

 

MPEDA is also working with a Norwegian group on cage aquaculture farming, with 3-4 demonstration projects that should go on stream soon.

 

Kumar said Indian farmers have already achieved breakthrough in cage farming of fin fish. A domestic company is producing feed for the fish, which used to be imported. Similarly, the first organic scampi will be harvested by the end of the year and this will be a first in the world, Kumar said.

 

To satisfy EU's standards for chemical residues, India set up a National Residue Control programme whereby labs collect samples at random to check for residues. In Andhra Pradesh, a testing lab would soon be set up and exporters would be asked not to buy shrimp from farmers not certified by the lab. 

 

MPEDA, which did not have any testing labs before, now has 3-4 labs, with another six labs will be set up in six months' time.

 

Other than EU, USA and Japan, which accounts for most of India's seafood exports, fast developing countries like Russia and South Africa are also good markets for India.

 

MPEDA is also targeting South American countries — Brazil, Argentina and East European countries whose populations are becoming more prosperous.

 

MPEDA would also help India's aqua industry to deal with technical problems such as diseases, and would develop products and technology for the industry, he added. 

 

Kumar said he doubts whether India can continue to be a major exporter as domestic market size is increasing and the industry is finding it hard to satisfy requirements.