The Union Minister for Commerce & Industry Shri Anand Sharma today dedicated the Nucleus Breeding Centre of the Domestication of Tiger Shrimp Project of Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture in Port Blair. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Sharma said that establishment of the project will have far reaching benefits for the shrimp famers and the sea food exporters of India. “It is expected that within five years of the establishment of the project, tiger shrimp aquaculture in India would scale new heights to achieve additional production to the tune of 100000 MT and have export value of USD 1 billion,” said Shri Sharma. “Last year, we exported shrimps worth over US$ 1.8 billion. This is an area which has the potential of becoming a huge foreign exchange earner for our country,’ added Shri Sharma. The Minister further added that India ranks second only to China in global aquaculture production producing 4.64 million tonnes annually out of the world’s total production of 60 million tones.

“There is no doubt that production of disease free varieties of Tiger prawns will assure market access to advanced markets which have much higher health standards. It will also catalyse the growth of ancillary industry in the entire value chain of sea food processing,” added the Minister. Shri Sharma said that “with the upgradation of the airport in Port Blair, there will be a surge in marine exports in the country.” He also said that the non-trade barrier issues in shrimp with Japan have been resolved.

Applauding the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture as being front ranking scientific organization in this sector in India, Shri Sharma also added that “they will shortly be granted four patents in adaptable aquaculture technology” for which they have applied. The Minister said that the seafood industry of India is poised at a crucial juncture and it needs a dramatic technology infusion capacity building and market expansion. “It needs much greater value addition for providing remunerative prices to our resource poor farmers. I would urge MPEDA to create innovative implementation models which would create necessary forward and backward linkages and create economies of scale.”

Later in the day, Shri Sharma also laid the foundation stone for the Multi-species Grouper Hatchery at Rangachang, Andaman and the Broodstock Multiplication Centre for Tiger Shrimp at Kanyakumari. Once the aquaculture of groupers is established, Shri Sharma said that “production can be increased manifold and will facilitate export of this item in live condition which has the potential of enhancing the income by up to five-fold for our fishermen.”

Shri Sharma also praised Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) for introducing several scientific technologies for the aquaculture sector. “MPEDA has been consistently providing technology support for commercial hatcheries and extension in financial services in the entire coastal area to ensure propagation of scientific shrimp farming practices in the country,” said Shri Sharma. At the same time, Shri Sharma stressed the “need to make continuous investments in technology upgradation, research and development for addressing the diseases which have struck the shrimp aquaculture industry.”

Speaking on the trade scenario, Shri Sharma expressed hope that the annual trade figures will be higher this year in comparison to the last year. He also hoped that the Foreign Direct Investment figure for the last five year will cross USD 215 billion.

Aquaculture expansion projected to boost shrimp production and export value through disease free breeding and technology driven capacity building. The Nucleus Breeding Centre seeks to expand aquaculture by producing disease free tiger shrimp breeding stock to increase national production and export potential, secure market access to higher health markets, catalyse value chain growth and deliver greater value addition for resource poor farmers; complementary hatchery and broodstock facilities, patentable aquaculture technologies, and sustained investment in R&D and institutional linkages are highlighted as necessary for addressing disease issues and scaling the sector.