IT Correspondent
New Delhi, Aug 18:
A booklet providing an overview of the challenges and opportunities in the ‘Seaweed Farming Entrepreneurship by Cooperatives’ was released here on Tuesday by Parshottam Rupala, Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India at an event in the presence of Sundeep Kumar Nayak, Managing Director, NCDC and Jatindra Nath Swain, Secretary, Department of Fisheries, Government of India.
After releasing the document, Parshottam Rupala, Hon’ble Minister said, “recognizing the potential of the sector, the government has developed a roadmap to establish a seaweed processing industry and matching seaweed cultivation. India is aiming to increase seaweed production from the current production levels of 2500 tons to 11.5 lakh tons in the next five years. In fact, this can be achieved by using just 1% of India’s 8000 kilometer long coastline.”
The document captures in detail the inputs and recommendations arising out of an international webinar on “Entrepreneurship Development through Seaweed Business by Cooperatives” held on 28th January, 2021 with an aim to promote seaweed business and its value-chain through cooperatives, according to a statement by the NCDC.
The webinar was jointly organized by the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, LINAC-NCDC, Department of Agricultural Cooperatives in Asia and the Pacific (NEDAC), Bangkok, a regional forum established by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organizations (UN-FAO).
International experts and other participants from Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, France, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom, the United States and Venezuela besides India, deliberated on the challenges in developing entrepreneurship among cooperatives in the sector and possible solutions to those challenges, said the statement.
The members from cooperative societies, entrepreneurs, policy makers, researchers and academicians, other stakeholders from seaweed industry were among those who participated in the workshop.
It aimed to contribute to the agenda of promoting entrepreneurship in seaweed business, especially through cooperatives, and enhancing the socio-economic wellbeing of seaweed farmers and other stakeholders in the country.
It focused on the Asia-Pacific region and outlined the business opportunities in seaweed farming and its ability to enhance income of seaweed farmers, especially women, the statement added.
