Further fillip on cards for fisheries sector in Telangana

Buoyed by the increasing fish production, the Telangana government is pursuing a multi-pronged strategy for the development of the fisheries sector.

The Fisheries Department is aiming at encouraging fishermen through different handholding measures and also making efforts to attract companies engaged in fish processing to set up their facilities in the State.

The State recorded a fish production of about 2.94 lakh tonnes during 2018-19, registering an increase of about 31,950 tonnes compared to 2017-18. With nearly 25,000 reservoirs and tanks with a water spread of 5.73 lakh sq km, the State is among the top five inland fish producing States in the country. Similarly, prawn cultivation too received good returns registering production of 9,990 tonnes during 2018-19, against 7,778 tonnes in 2017-18.

The rise in fish production is



attributed to the State government’s measures, including supply of fish seedlings free of cost to fishermen. During 2018-19, about 70 crore fish seedlings were supplied. “Apart from helping increase the production, the government has been providing fishermen with dragnets to improve the catch and vehicles equipped with insulated boxes to transport the produce. Several fish markets are also under construction,” said an official in the Fisheries Department.

Further, the department is pursuing plans to set up fish processing units in village and mandal level in association with self-help groups on the lines of food and meat processing units. Efforts are also being made to have more industrial parks to establish food processing units of corporate entities, including the LuLu group, which has already entered into a memorandum of understanding with the State government. These industrial parks are aimed to cater to the needs of both domestic and foreign markets with a focus on exports.