Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Scheme to provide interest-free loans to women fishworkers

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The Government will soon come out with a scheme to provide interest-free loans for women fishworkers, Fisheries Minister S. Sarma said here on Tuesday.

Mr. Sarma told a news conference after discussions with officials of the Kerala State Cooperative Consumers' Federation for Fisheries Development (Matsyafed) here on Tuesday that the scheme would be implemented through Matsyafed.

Each woman fish-worker would be given loan ranging from Rs.3,000 to Rs.10,000 under the scheme, he added.

The Minister pointed out that though the State exported fish products worth Rs.1,200 crores and had domestic sales worth Rs.600 crores annually, accounting for roughly three per cent of the State revenue, the fish-workers had only little role in the entire process.

The fisher-folk were also deriving little benefit from these activities. The Government's effort would be to rectify this situation and ensure greater participation for fish-workers, he said.

Noting that fish-workers' share in the total volume of fish trade in the State came to only 10.5 per cent, Mr. Sarma said the Government's endeavour would be to end the exploitative role being played by middlemen and to enable fish-workers to have at least a 50 per cent share in the total fish trade. Matsyafed's activities would be reoriented and the cooperatives affiliated to Matsyafed strengthened with this objective in view. The Government was also planning a one-time-settlement scheme for fish-workers who had availed themselves of loans from fisheries cooperatives pledging gold. Those who had taken loans from the now defunct Kerala Fisheries Corporation would also be considered for the one-time-settlement scheme.

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