With an aim to further boost the aquaculture sector in Andhra Pradesh, the State government is exploring the possibility of collaborations with various countries to adopt international practices. The State Fisheries department has already held discussions in this regard with various organisations from Singapore, Netherlands, Vietnam and a few other countries.
According to information, the collaborations are for knowledge-sharing and technology transfer for better culture of aqua products. “We are looking at collaborations in areas such as farming, hatcheries, processing, value addition, cold-chain development, feed technology and others. The emerging collaborations will not only help in increasing the aquaculture production in the State but also give the farmers more export opportunities,” a senior official explained.
The official noted that teams from the said countries have already visited the State in the last four months and held discussions on forging a joint partnership in deep sea fishing as well. While the collaboration with Singapore is expected to be in transfer of technology in aquaculture and in shrimp exportation, the tie-up with Netherlands will be in the fields of feed technology and cold-chain development.
“With Vietnam, we will jointly work mostly on deep sea tuna fishing and value addition products,” the official noted. The Fisheries department is likely to enter into agreements to take the collaboration forward. It maybe recalled that the department has already signed an MoU with USA-based Fishin Company for increasing the production of Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia fish in the State.
For the record, the fisheries sector contributes 7.4 per cent to the State GSDP and has a sector share of 24.24 per cent in the country’s fisheries production. AP is also the highest producer of shrimp, occupying about 66 per cent of country’s production.
