India competes China as second largest exporter of marine products

Vijayawada, July 27 (KNN) India is now the second largest marine product exporting country after China, said Dr KN Raghavan, chairman of Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA).

In the last 70 years India has achieved a growth 18 times to secure the second place, said Raghavan on Tuesday inaugurating a seminar.

As a part of the golden jubilee celebrations of MPEDA the event was on 'Initiatives of MPEDA for Promotion of Diversified Aquaculture in India with special focus on Andhra Pradesh'.

Andhra Pradesh exports 35% of aquaculture products in the country with its 974-km coastal line and producing aquaculture products in 1.2 lakh hectares.

In addition, various aqua products are being produced in 1.74 lakh hectares of saltwater areas, 2.34 lakh hectares of reservoirs and lakes, 28,200 hectares of mangrove and swamp lands.

Highlighting the significance of aquaculture in the economic activity of the country, he said it is developing with diversified resources.

Like agriculture sector the Aquaculture has been identified as an important sector and various steps have been taken to develop it.

The aquaculture, which was only 0.75 million tonnes in 1950-51, had gone up to 13.76 million tonnes by 2018-19. In addition to catering to the needs of people in the country, about 1.5 crore people are eking out living through this important activity.  (KNN Bureau)