The Hindu : Kerala News : Make country competent in seafood trade: Pawar

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Saturday, Jan 05, 2008
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Make country competent in seafood trade: Pawar

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, on Friday, urged the scientific community to make the country globally competent in seafood trade.

Delivering the inaugural address at the golden jubilee commemorative function at the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), Mr. Pawar said new challenges were emerging in the fish-processing sector.

Elaborating on the achievements made by CIFT, Mr. Pawar said the organisation had developed several technologies to provide guidance and assistance to fishing and fish-processing industries of the country.

Value-added products

He said CIFT had come up with designs of mechanised fishing boats for the Indian export economic zones. It had developed value-added products, such as fish soup powder, fish wafers, fish cutlets, fish balls and fish pickle. Highlighting the academic achievements by scientists affiliated to CIFT, the Minister said they had won the first international smart gear award instituted by the World Wildlife Fund for the category by-catch devices.

Experts in the organisation had won awards that included best woman scientist and best research team.

Research facilities

Pointing out that the scientific institution owned extensive training facilities in fishing and fish processing, the Minister said CIFT was giving importance to research and development in the field of biotechnology. In his address, Mangala Rai, Director-General of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research, said value addition in the entire agricultural produce in the country was only seven per cent earlier compared to the higher rate of growth achieved by China.

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