MPs from Kerala Hibi Eden and T.N. Parathapan met Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi to impress upon him the requirement for maintaining the headquarters of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) in Kochi in the wake of reports that the government was planning to shift it to Andhra Pradesh.
The MPs said Kerala was blessed with a long coastline and fishing constituted one of its largest employment opportunities across nine of the 14 districts, providing daily maintenance to about a million people. The presence of the MPEDA headquarters was instrumental in developing a fish export culture, worth about ₹5,000 crore annually.
The fisheries export business, including that of ornamental fisheries, accounts for a substantial part of the State’s economy and the move to relocate the MPEDA headquarters would be a big setback to the sector, the MPs said in their submission before the Union Minister. “We strongly oppose any such move to relocate MPEDA headquarters, which is against the interest of our fisheries sector. We humbly request you to reconsider the decision,” they said.
There are unconfirmed reports that the MPEDA headquarters will be shifted to Andhra Pradesh, which accounts for the bulk of shrimp export from the country.
Frozen shrimp accounted for ₹35,520 crore worth of exports on a total volume of 5,90,275 tonnes during 2020-21. Frozen shrimp forms about half of the total volume of 11,49,510 tonnes of seafood exported from the country and accounts for more than half of the total export realisation of around ₹43,700 crore. The bulk of the shrimp exported from the country is cultured whiteleg shrimp L. Vannamei from Andhra Pradesh. A large portion of the shrimp processed in Kerala too is brought from Andhra Pradesh farms.
The MPEDA was established as a statutory body in 1972 under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry for the promotion of marine fisheries products exports. Marine food is exported to over a hundred countries across the globe and it is expected that seafood exports will touch the ₹1 lakh crore mark by 2025. The MPEDA is learnt to have submitted a roadmap to achieve the target, listing out the interventions needed.
