AP Government wants fish to be favorite item on your plate

Ongole: To boost sales and consumption of aqua products in the State, the government is establishing about 70 aqua hubs, 560 fish kiosks and nearly 7,000 mini fish retail outlets very soon.

The applications from the interested beneficiaries and farmer societies are already called for the same, as the Chief Minister is virtually inaugurating the aqua labs on Thursday to promote aquaculture in the State.

According to the data available with the Fisheries department, the total production of the aqua industry in the State has gone up from 20 lakh metric tons in 2015 to 42 lakh metric tons in 2020. The industry has contributed around Rs 51,000 crore, about 9 per cent of the GSDP and is providing livelihood to nearly 20 lakh people.

To further increase the consumption of fish, shrimp and promote them as a nutritious diet, the government has prepared an action plan to set up aqua hubs in each district and sell the fish product in villages through fish vending kiosks, directly supplied from the local aqua farmers and fishermen.

The number of these hubs will be increased to one hub in each Assembly constituency and one kiosk in each village or ward secretariat level.

The Fisheries department invited applications from interested aqua farmer societies to establish the aqua hubs with a unit value of Rs 1.27 crore each. The fresh and live fish, prawns, shrimp, crabs will be transported to the hubs, where they will be processed with high-quality standards and distributed to retailers and consumers.

The government also invited applications from interested entrepreneurs to operate e-vehicles for street vending the live fish, fresh fish and other processed fish products, by investing Rs 4 lakh.

With an investment of Rs 10 to 20 lakh, the interested persons can also establish fish vending centres and kiosks at suitable locations to sell fish, prawns, marinated and cooked products, snacks and instant cooking foods and also to cater to online orders.

In the initial stage, the government wants to start with 70 aqua hubs, 25 value- added units, 250 live fish vending centres, 560 fish kiosks, 140 fish vending-cum-food courts, 475 fish vending e-vehicles and 7,000 mini fish retail outlets.

The government will provide a subsidy of 40 per cent to the general and BC categories while 60 per cent to the SC, ST and BC category beneficiaries establishing the aqua hubs and retail outlets.

A Chandrasekhar Reddy, Joint Director of the Fisheries department in Ongole, said that the government is very keen to promote aqua food consumption in the State by increasing the availability of quality products at better prices to the consumer.

Apart from the vending opportunities to the interested persons, the government is also establishing aqua labs to conduct tests and protect the seed from various diseases.

He said that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will virtually inaugurate the aqua lab at Ongole and aqua-cum-agriculture lab at Singarayakonda on Thursday as the lab at Desaipet is not ready by now.

He said that they have asked the volunteers in the village and ward secretariats to identify beneficiaries, either already selling fish or meat or fresh entrepreneurs, to set up fish vending kiosks at the secretariat level and start confirming the units.

He informed that the interested candidates can apply for the units by contacting their volunteer or online at https://ematsyakar.com/efisher/retailunits and can call 9177245234 for more information.