State exports fish, relies on Andhra for domestic needs

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Cuttack: Data from the Directorate of Fisheries has revealed that the state has been exporting huge quantity of fish abroad while depending upon its neighbouring state Andhra Pradesh (AP) for meeting its domestic demands.
The report comes at a time when there is much hue and cry over the possible presence of formalin, a cancer-causing chemical, in fishes brought from AP.
Sources in the directorate claimed that the state has been exporting fish to several foreign countries like USA, United Kingdom and Japan.
According to the data, of the 5, 21, 278 tonne fish the state had produced in 2015-16 financial year (FY), it exported 35, 612 tonne abroad and imported 46, 275 tonne from Andhra Pradesh.
In FY 2016-17, the state had produced altogether 6, 08, 100 tonne fish, out of which it had exported 41, 828 tonne to overseas markets. That year, the state procured 35, 156 tonne fish from Andhra Pradesh.
According to a provisional report for the 2017-18 fiscal, the state had produced 6, 84, 963 tonne fish in that year and exported 45, 147 tonne abroad. It had sourced 40, 679 tonne from Andhra Pradesh.
The data pointed out that fish production in the state has been on the rise for the past three fiscals. Most importantly, the export volume from the state has been on a constant rise. However, the import volume from Andhra Pradesh does not show any uniform trend.
According to the data, the state had minted Rs 1,792 crore by exporting fish in 2015-16 fiscal while the figure was Rs 2,205 crore in 2016-17 and Rs 2,414 crore in 2017-18.
An official of the Directorate of Fisheries claimed that fish farmers in Andhra Pradesh are much ahead of their counterparts in Odisha in terms of volume of production. “Fish farmers in AP can produce up to 20 tonne fish from a pond whereas our fish farmers are growing only 10 to 20 quintal,” said the official.
It is learnt that many fish traders from AP have either purchased land in some coastal districts of Odisha or have taken them on rent for fish farming. “Many fish traders from the southern state have set up their farms at Gop, Astarang and Kakatpur areas in Puri district,” said a source.
A statistician in the directorate, Bishwanath Lenka, said prawn and pomfret produced in Odisha have huge demand in the overseas market. “Fish farmers from the state are exporting prawn and pomfret to foreign countries as they fetch lucrative prices there,” he claimed.
Fisheries department deputy director Basanta Kumar Das said the state government has been promoting fish farming for the last few years. “We hope that fish produced in Odisha will dominate the local markets in near future,” he added.