Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, Parshottam Rupala, Thursday launched the online marketplace feature ‘Aqua Bazar’ in the “Matsya Setu” mobile app during the 9th general body meeting of the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB). The online marketplace will help the fish farmers and stakeholders to source the inputs such as fish seeds, feed, medicines, among other inputs, and services required for fish culture as well as farmers can also list their table-size fish for sale. The marketplace aims to connect all stakeholders in the aquaculture sector.
The app was developed by the ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (ICAR-CIFA), Bhubaneswar, with funding support from NFDB, Hyderabad through the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY).
While addressing the gathering, Parshottam Rupala said that capacity building of fish farmers should be given top priority. Intensive training courses and exposure visits should be organised for the farmers.
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L. Murugan, Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry in his address told that the Government has taken up promotion of startups by the entrepreneurs to achieve the targeted fish production.
Sanjeev Balyan, Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying stressed that the newer generation entrepreneurs should come forward to fulfill the growing fish demand in the country.
Salient features of Aqua Bazar
Reliable information about the timely availability of quality inputs in the right place is very much crucial for the success and development of freshwater aquaculture in the country. At times, fish farmers face problems sourcing critical, quality inputs such as fish seeds, feed, feed ingredients, fertilisers, nutraceuticals, additives and medicines during the crop season. Any delay in obtaining these inputs would cause significant consequences in the productivity of their fish culture operation. Sometimes, farmers also look for services such as farm construction, rental services and workforce for harvesting. Similarly, at certain times, fish farmers do face difficulties in selling their produce in the market or they only rely upon a limited number of buyers and agents to procure their fish produced.
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To address the problem, ICAR-CIFA and NFDB have developed this digital platform (Aqua Bazar) to bring all the stakeholders to one place. Through this platform, any registered vendor can list their input materials. The listed items will be displayed in the marketplace based on geographical proximity to the app user. The listings are categorised into the major categories such as fish seeds, input materials, services, jobs, and table fish. Every listing will contain detailed information about the product, price, available quantity and supply area along with the seller’s contact details. The needy farmers and stakeholders can contact the vendors and fulfill their procurements.
The feature also allows the fish farmers to list their grown table-size fish and fish seeds for sale with an option to indicate the date of availability along with the price offer. Interested fish buyers will contact the farmers and offer their prices. It will certainly help the farmers to receive more business enquiries from buyers or buyer agents who procure fish, paving the way for increased awareness about the market situation and better price realisation of farmers’ produce.
Dr. Ramesh Chand, Member, Niti Ayog; fisheries ministers from different state governments; secretaries of many union ministries; Dr. JK Jena, Deputy Director General (Fisheries), ICAR; JN Swain, Secretary, Department of Fisheries, Government of India and senior officers of the Department of Fisheries were present.