From an aquaculture perspective, the Union Budget proposals for 2018 – 2019 are very progressive. Fisheries in India is a very important economic activity and a flourishing sector with varied resources and potentials.
As the second largest country in aquaculture production, the share of inland fisheries and aquaculture has gone up from 46 percent in the 1980s to over 85 percent in recent years in total fish production. India is today also the world’s largest exporter of shrimps.
Given this backdrop, the Hon’ble Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley’s proposals to set up a Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FAIDF) for the fisheries sector and an Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) for financing infrastructure requirement of animal husbandry sector are laudable, and are bound to give a tremendous boost to the respective sectors.
It is to be seen as to how much of this allocation of Rs. 10,000-cr will be available for the aqua sector. However, these initiatives should go a long way in realising the true potential that exists in the sector.
These are the comments on union budget 2018-19 by Mr. Ramakanth V. Akula, CEO, The Waterbase Limited.
