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Oceanic tuna processing facility at IFP soon

Photo: Vipinchandran

Quality matters: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar having a look at some of the value-added products made from fish at the renovated fish-processing complex of the Integrated Fisheries Project in the city on Saturday. Also seen are Fisheries Minister S. Sarma and IFP Director S. Girija. –

KOCHI: A modern processing facility exclusively to handle oceanic tuna will be set up at a cost of Rs.3 crore in the Integrated Fisheries Project (IFP) here as a joint venture with the National Fisheries Development Board, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has said.

Speaking after commissioning the Rs.1-crore renovated fish-processing complex on the IFP premises here on Saturday, he said additional facilities would be created at the IFP unit in Visakhapatnam. “The institute [Visakhapatnam] will be renamed and groomed into a centre of excellence in post-harvest technology for fish. Recently, the Agriculture Ministry took steps to reorganise the institute, to make it focus on post-harvest technology, value-addition, human resource development and research and development. It is of paramount importance that seafood reaching the consumer is nutritious, wholesome and totally safe,” Mr. Pawar said.

Mr. Pawar said food security being an important challenge facing the world today, fish – both caught and cultured – had great potential for filling the supply gap. While intensifying efforts to boost fish production, sustainability of resources and livelihood security of traditional fishermen had to be ensured. Better price realisation through value-addition, organised marketing and minimising post-harvest losses would greatly benefit the small mechanised fishers and small-scale fish farmers, he said.

The Minister lauded the initiatives of the institute that resulted in the improvement in quality of life in the coastal villages.

The Agriculture Ministry recently conducted a marine fisheries census and found that through proper support, fisherwomen could supplement the household income in fisher hamlets.

“There is need to empower the fisherwomen to help them gainfully engage in ancillary activities like food and feed production from fish through low-cost technologies, fish marketing etc. People in the hinder lands and hilly areas, who suffer from protein malnutrition, should benefit from an affordable protein diet made out of fish. Technologies for the purpose have to be developed and popularised.”

Mr. Pawar reminded that despite strides in aquaculture production, technologies for processing and value-addition of cultured fin fish and shell fish were still at an infant stage. This had inflicted heavy losses on farmers, especially when panic harvesting was resorted to because of disease or weather change. Suitable post-harvesting technologies for producing convenience food from these items must be developed, he said.

Under the renovation work at IFP, a freezing plant built in 1960s by Norwegians was refurbished as per European Union standards.

The facilities include different types of freezers and cold rooms. Meat-picking machine, slicer and machines for knobbing, skinning, squid-cutting and filleting are among the facilities available at the plant for making consumer-friendly and convenience product options.

The others who were present at the function included Mangala Rai, Director General of Indian Council for Agricultural Research; Pradeep Kumar, Secretary, Central Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairy and Fisheries; Fisheries Minister S. Sarma and S. Girija, Director of IFP.

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