India holds a significant portion of the aquaculture industry, whichis a fast growing sector in the world. The Indian Aquaculture Industry has the second-largest share in the worldwide aquatic market, and it is also the second-largest producer of fish in the world. The past two decades, has seen tremendous growth, about sixfold, in the Indian Aquaculture industry. The world produces about 80 million tons of Aquatic animals, out of which China produces about 49 million tons and India about 5 million tons. Thus, we can see from these data that the Indian Aquaculture Industry holds a significant and strong position in the global market.
Factors contributing to the remarkable growth of the Indian Aquaculture Industry
Several factors contribute to the remarkable growth of the Indian Aquaculture Industry. Some of these are:
- India provides opportunities for fishing in marine waters, which contributes 26% of fish production and inland waters, that contribute to 74% of the production of fishes.
- It has enormous areas used for fish cultivation like ponds and tanks covering about 2.36 hectares.
- The country’s geographical advantage is quite helpful as it has 7500 kilometers of coastline.
- It has 1.1 million areas of brackish water.
- There are a total of 1568 fish landing centers in the country.
- The country has 654 cold storages, 42 chilled storages, 90 dry storages for fishes.
- Good funding and projects from the ministry, such as 17 fishing harbor projects under Sagarmala, PMMSY, etc., have also helped develop the fishing industries in India.
Some Interesting Facts about Indian Aquaculture Industry
As the world population grows, the demand for fishes and other aquatic animals having more and high graded protein content would increase. As India is the second-largest global producer in this sector, it contributes to the livelihood of many people, directly or indirectly. Here are some interesting facts about the Indian Aquaculture Industry:
- This sector contributes about 68% of India’s fish production.
- This sector supports the livelihood of more than 28 million people, a majority of them being from marginalized communities.
- There is huge money coming in from export from this sector, which is about more than 6 billion dollars.
- This sector has shown double-digit growth annually in the last few years.
- The fishing industries have recorded 145 lakh tons of fish production.
- This sector contributes 7.28% in Agriculture in Gross Value Added(GVA) in the Fiscal year 2020
The contribution of Fish Feed in the Indian Aquaculture Industry
Fish feed is an essential component of the Aquaculture industry in India as well as globally, and it contributes significantly to this sector. This sector uses about 20 % of the feed available in the concentrated form. Aqua feed that are farm-made are quite popular among Indian farmers, and about 7 million tons of raw materials and other ingredients are used for feeds. Nearly a decade ago, 60,000 tons of pelleted fish feed and 3,72,000 tons of extruded floating feed were manufactured that has grown manifolds in the current years. Many technologically advanced startups and manufacturers are also addressing this issue by providing high-quality fish feed that is species-specific so that the aquafarmers could have better growth, development, and production of fishes. This would help to develop the Indian Aquaculture Industry even further.
One such Fish Feed exporter and manufacturer is J K Fish Feed which provides high quality and species-specific products.
