The Kerala State Coastal Area Development Corporation (KSCADC), an initiative of the State Fisheries department, has secured export orders worth ₹49.5 lakh of value-added fish products from the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
The documents relating to the shipment of two containers of products were received by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian here on Wednesday. The documents were handed over by Anas K.K. Managing Director of IAN Overseas Pvt Ltd, the export merchants firm through which the export is being executed.
The project seeks to scale up entrepreneurial and employment opportunities in the State’s fisheries sector by promoting export of its own brand of dried fish, frozen fish and a variety of other marine products.
K.S. Srinivas, Principal Secretary Fisheries Department, and P.I. Sheik Pareeth, MD KSCADC, were present.
The items going into the shipment were processed and packaged by KSCADC’s solar-powered Fish Processing Centre (FPC) at Sakthikulangara near Kollam, fully adhering to international standards in quality and energy.
The state-of-the-art facility was set up, and operates, with the support and guidelines of reputed establishments like the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), National Institute of Post-harvest Technology and Training (NIFPHATT) and other central and state agencies like Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), Export Inspection Agency (EIA), and the State Pollution Control Board.
The facility currently has a capacity to dry 1 ton fish per day. It has successfully routed a variety of ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook products to both domestic and global markets.
The FPC employs mostly women in all stages of processing and packaging.
