A regional office of the National Fisheries Development Board should be established in Amaravati – Chief Minister Chandrababu appeals to Union Ministers via letters to safeguard the interests of aqua farmers and tobacco growers –
Raja Pentapati- AP Bureau ChiefAMARAVATI July 20th ,Bharat Degital News
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(Five-Star Rated News Service by Google)
The Chief Minister has written to the Union Fisheries Minister seeking the setting up of a regional office of the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) in Andhra Pradesh , State Capitol of Amaravati to strengthen support to the aquaculture sector .
In a letter to Union Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, the Chief Minister has urged the Centre to allow shrimp feed manufacturers to import genetically modified (GM) soybean meals to support the aquaculture sector.
The Chief Minister explained that the cost of feed production has increased significantly due to the skyrocketing prices of soybean meal, the basic raw material used in shrimp feed, which is putting a heavy financial burden on shrimp farmers. He requested the Centre to allow imports of soybean meal to overcome the domestic shortage and stabilise prices.
The Chief Minister recalled that in 2021 too, such import permits were granted to shrimp feed manufacturers on a limited basis. He said that the increasing production and exports of shrimp from Ecuador have intensified competition in the international markets, causing increasing difficulties for Indian exporters in key destinations like the US, China and Europe.
The state government has already allotted 7.89 acres of government land in Nekkalu village for a regional office, training centre, fish park and public aquarium. He said that this facility will emerge as a major hub for the development of the blue economy.
The Chief Minister has also written to Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, seeking immediate steps to protect the aquaculture sector in Andhra Pradesh.
He said that the global shrimp prices have fallen sharply due to increased shrimp exports from Ecuador to the US, China and Europe. He urged the Centre to regulate domestic availability of fish meal, an important raw material in shrimp feed.
The Chief Minister said that currently there is a 5 per cent export incentive on fish meal exports, which is forcing domestic feed manufacturers to buy the commodity at higher prices. He requested the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) to regulate exports and ensure that domestic requirements are met before allowing exports. He also reiterated his request to allow imports of GM soybean meal.
The Chief Minister urged the Union Commerce Minister to provide export incentives for FCV tobacco exported from Andhra Pradesh. He said that while competing countries like Zimbabwe and Tanzania are providing subsidies and duty concessions to their exporters, Indian exporters are not getting any such support.
He said that while agricultural products like tea, coffee and spices were brought under the Road-to-DEP (RoDTEP) scheme in August 2021, raw tobacco (HS code 2401) was excluded. He urged the Centre to immediately extend the benefits of Road-to-DEP to raw tobacco as well.
In a separate letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Chief Minister sought several economic measures to strengthen the aquaculture sector.
He requested that GST on aquaculture aerators be reduced from 18 per cent to 5 per cent. Referring to the Indo-US trade agreement, he said that despite the reduction of import duty on aquaculture products to 10 per cent, legal uncertainty regarding tariffs still persists and he sought the intervention of the Finance Ministry in this regard.
The Chief Minister also requested that aquaculture farmers be provided with a one-time top-up of Rs. 5 lakh under the Kisan Credit Card Scheme. He also sought the creation of a corpus fund of Rs. 100 crore through NFDB for domestic marketing.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has appealed to Union Ministers in separate letters, seeking protection of the interests of aquaculture and tobacco farmers.
Swacha Andhra Pradesh
