While presenting the Union Budget 2023-24, Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman in her speech announced an allocation of an amount of INR 2248.77 crore as against the corresponding figure of INR 1624.18 crore during 2022-23 and INR 1360 crore during 2021-22 for the Department of Fisheries. It marks an overall increase of 38.45 per cent over the budget of FY 2022-23 from the last one, the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying said.
New sub-scheme PM-MKSSY
Further, she has announced a new sub-scheme named Pradhan Mantri Matsya Kisan Samridhi Sah-Yojana (PM-MKSSY); a Central sector sub-scheme under Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) with a targeted investment of INR 6,000 crore with the objective to enhance further the earnings and incomes of fishermen, fish vendors and micro and small enterprises engaged in the fisheries sector. PM-MKSSY envisages focussed intervention to bring about the formalisation of the fisheries sector and this includes digital inclusion, facilitating access to institutional finance for capital investment and working capital, incentives to bring about system and institutions to reduce risk in aquaculture and fisheries incentivising microenterprises operating in fisheries and aquaculture sector to work on value-chain efficiencies, incentivising micro and small enterprises to establish supply chains for delivery of safe fish products to consumers, thereby expanding the domestic market and incentives for creation and maintenance of jobs for women in the sector, the ministry further said in a statement.
You may also like to read – Budget 2023: Restructured PACS to transform farmers’ income and life
The budget speech has also laid stress on the creation of primary cooperative societies including fisheries cooperatives at the panchayat level. The formation of cooperative societies at the grassroot level will formalise the sector and will empower fishers and fish farmers to carry out fish production and its post-harvest activities in an organised manner. With Rs 900 crore allocation for the Ministry of Cooperation for the development of cooperatives, enhanced limits for loans, TDS limits and cash deposits and steps to be taken for building the national cooperative database are expected to make operations and financing easier for cooperatives in the sector and help the sector to grow faster. The above, in addition to the earlier announcement on, the establishment of National Co-operative Export Society, National Co-operative Society for Organic Products and National Level Multi-State Seed Co-operative Society are expected to support the fisheries in the areas of seed and marketing.
Agri Credit
The credit target for agriculture and allied sectors has been announced to be increased to 20 lakh crore, focusing on animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries. This will substantially improve the flow of institutional finance for the fisheries sector. Further, the announcement to reduce import duty on certain inputs required for shrimp feed is expected to lower the cost of imports and the cost of production and as a result, will boost and promote aquaculture exports. Reduction in basic customs duty on fish meal from 15 per cent to 5 per cent, on krill meal from 15 per cent to 5 per cent, on algal Prime (flour) from 30 per cent to 15 per cent, on fish lipid oil from 30 per cent to 15 per cent and on mineral and vitamin premixes from 15 per cent to 5 per cent for manufacturing of aquatic feed is expected to reduce the cost of feed, promote domestic feed including and to substantially improve export competitive of Indian shrimps, the ministry informed.
Centres of excellence for AI
The announcement of three centres of excellence in India for artificial intelligence is expected to galvanise the AI ecosystem in India and it offers great scope for improvement in fish marketing systems and for increased value realisation through accelerated implementation of a blockchain-based solution for traceability and quality.
Digital Public Infrastructure
The proposed Digital Public Infrastructure and Agricultural Accelerator Fund will intensify innovations around the fisheries value chain. Overall, the budget 2023-24 will help usher in a new phase of accelerated growth in the fisheries and aquaculture sector through the enhanced flow of institutional credit, increased instruments for risk mitigation, incentives for expansion and deepening of the domestic and export markets and acceleration of innovations.
You may also like to read – Budget 2023: Accelerating agritech to create a robust ecosystem
As India marches ahead in various frontiers and makes its presence on the global stage across various sectors, the Indian fisheries sector continues to grow at a very healthy pace. India has already become 3rd largest fish producer, 2nd largest aquaculture producer and 4th largest exporter of fish and fisheries products. It has clocked a double-digit annual growth rate of 10.34 per cent in FY 2021-22 and has reached record fish production of 162.48 lakh tonnes with much more growth to come in near future. The sector provides sustainable livelihoods to over 28 million people mostly within the marginalised and vulnerable communities and has been instrumental in bringing about sustainable improvements in the socio-economic conditions of the poor and the downtrodden, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying said.
Four years ago, the Fisheries sector was given a big boost by carving out the Department of Fisheries from the erstwhile Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries on February 5, 2019. Simultaneously, a number of schemes and programmes namely Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), Fisheries Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) and Kisan Credit Card (KCC) for fish farmers with a total investment of over Rs. 27,500 crores were launched which has started to make its impact felt.
