National Workshop on Fisheries Cooperatives Held in Hyderabad

India's fisheries sector plays a crucial role in the country's economy, contributing to national income, exports, food and nutritional security, and employment.

The cooperative movement in India is deeply rooted in the ancient philosophy of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' (the world is one family). This principle of unity and mutual support has shaped cooperatives into strong institutions that empower communities and promote grassroots development.

In the fisheries sector, the cooperative model plays a crucial role by enabling small and marginal fishers to pool resources, improve access to markets, reduce dependence on intermediaries, and gain better access to inputs, infrastructure, technology, and institutional credit.

Fisheries cooperatives, along with Multipurpose Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (MPACS), are emerging as key drivers of inclusive growth, while also supporting allied sectors such as agriculture and riuity in building a sustainable economy.

Speaking to ANI, Bijay Kumar Behera, ARS, Chief Executive NFDB, said, "Department of Fisheries, Government of India, Ministry of Cooperation, Government of India, in joint collaboration, a one-day national conference on Fisheries Cooperatives is being organised in Hyderabad. The National Fisheries Development Board has organised it, and people from many departments have joined here, like NCDC, NERAMAC, SFAC, NAFED, CIFT, CMFRI... all have joined. Today, we will deliberate on how to strengthen fisheries cooperatives. What are the challenges in making fisheries cooperatives, what are the gaps, and how can we overcome them to strengthen the fisheries cooperative societies and improve the economic standards of poor fishermen and fish farmers? That is the main objective. "

"National Fisheries Development Board has been given a target by the Department of Fisheries and the Ministry of Cooperation to create 6,000 new cooperative societies and strengthen 5,500 existing ones. For this, we are already giving grants of 2 lakh rupees each to those societies to strengthen them, to make their business model plans, so they can market their products and get good profits. Through this cooperation, we will also discuss how they will get credit linkage, how they will get loans from different banks, and how they will benefit. That's why NABARD and NCDC are also here. Discussions will be held on how to benefit the cooperative sector through credit and how they can easily get the KCC (Kisan Credit Card)," he added.

DR Ashish Kumar Bhutani, Secratary Ministry of corporation, while speaking to ANI, said, "Today's conference in Hyderabad, which brings together all the stakeholders in the fisheries sector, including cooperatives, is the first of its kind in the country in the sense that we are breaking silos, we are bringing all the interested parties together, including federations, state governments, central government, technical agencies, NABARD, NCDC, all agencies directly or remotely connected with the fisheries sector. The idea is to ensure that we do not work in silos, we break those silos, ensure that we work, have a, I would say, a relationship of synergy and ensure that this cooperative, the fisheries sector, reaches its true potential, which it is supposed to reach in the fastest possible time. The idea is to ensure that we tie up the resources for development of the sector, address technology issues, bring in the cold chain development platforms, and ensure that we have proper marketing and processing facilities in place for development of the sector."

- ANI