December 31, 2004

 

 

India Planning Raw Materials Import For Seafood Industry

 

India is planning the large scale import of raw materials to maximize its huge spare seafood processing capacity, according to Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) Chairman G Mohankumar.

 

Having attained the capacity to meet stringent international quality standards in seafood, including that of the European Union, importing raw materials would help generate a lot more employment and also help in boosting the country's export earnings from this vital sector, he said.

 

Explaining the preparations for the XVth Biennial India International Seafood Show-2005, to be held in Kolkata in February next, he told UNI that the international shows always helped India to project its sustained capacity to meet the growing global demand for seafood.

 

Each show had brought in the opportunity to come into contact with new customers besides bringing in more export orders, Mr Mohankumar said.

 

Similarly, India was also participating in all the annual international seafood and food fairs, especially the European Exposition being held at Brussels.

 

The expansion of the European Union with the recent addition of ten more countries had also helped to widen India's market potential in the EU region, he said.

 

On the damages caused to fishing and aquaculture sectors in India's eastern region following Sunday's killer tsunami waves that hit Tamil Nadu and Andhra coasts, Mr Mohankumar said the respective state governments were in the process of assessing the damages suffered by the traditional fishermen to provide financial and other assistance to restore infrastructure and dwellings, wherever necessary.

 

Mr Mohankumar said India was also picking up fresh water prawn culture on a massive scale with the technology developed recently by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research(ICAR) and states like Andhra Pradesh and Punjab had taken advantage of the emerging aquaculture areas.

 

The MPEDA had also identified some areas in Orissa and Maharashtra for taking up fresh water prawn (scampi) culture.

 

However, as a matter of policy, the MPEDA was not encouraging large-scale fresh water aquaculture since fresh water had many other pressing utilities, including irrigation and drinking purposes, he added.