Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana

In Context

• The Prime Minister has recently praised the efforts of farmers of Sirsa for showcasing the benefits of PM Matasya Sampada Yojana.

Fish Farming of Haryana

• There is a lot of land in the state of Haryana, which was often left barren due to the rise in the saline water level.
• Farmers in the state have started earning more money than other crops by doing the business of shrimp fisheries through crop diversification.
  • Fish farming is being done on 785 acres of land in the entire state, out of which 400 acres land is in Sirsa.
• Sirsa district adjoining the border of Rajasthan and Punjab at the last end of Haryana has the highest number of cultivators in the state.

Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY)

• About:
  • It is a flagship scheme for focused and sustainable development of the fisheries sector in the country with an estimated investment of 20,050 crore for its implementation during 2020-21 to 2024-25 as part of Aatmanirbhar Bharat package.
• Ministry: 
  • Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. 
• Aim: 
  • To bring about a blue revolution through sustainable and responsible development of the fisheries sector in India.
  • To double the incomes of fishers and fish farmers, reducing post-harvest losses from 20-25% to about 10% and the generation of gainful employment opportunities in the sector.
• Implementation:
  • It is implemented as an umbrella scheme with two separate components namely
    • Central Sector Scheme: 
      • The project cost will be borne by the Central government. The entire project/unit cost will be funded by the Government of India (GoI) (i.e., 100% GoI Funding).
    • Centrally Sponsored Scheme: 
      • All the sub-components/activities will be implemented by the States/UTs and the cost will be shared between Centre and State.
        • North Eastern & Himalayan States: 90% Central share and 10% State share.
        • Other States: 60% Central share and 40% State share.
  • A well-structured implementation framework would be established for the effective planning and implementation of PMMSY.
  • For optimal outcomes, ‘Cluster or area-based approach’ would be followed with requisite forward and backward linkages and end to end solutions.
• Approach:
  •  ‘Cluster or Area based approaches and many new interventions such as fishing vessel insurance, Aquaculture in saline/alkaline areas, Sagar Mitras, FFPOs, Nucleus Breeding Centres, etc.
• Achievements: 
  • From 2019–20 to 2021–2022, the Fisheries sector had an incredible growth of 14.3%.
  • Fish production has increased from 141.64 lakh tonnes in 2019-20 to 161.87 lakh tonnes (provisional) in 2021-22.
  • The sector achieved all-time high exports of 13.64 lakh tonnes, reaching Rs 57,587 crores (USD 7.76 billion), topped by shrimp exports.

Example of Sirsa

• Original agricultural prctice & issue of salinity:
  • In this district, farmers have been mainly cultivating narma, cotton, guar, paddy, wheat since the beginning.
  • Due to the adoption of traditional farming, where the groundwater went down considerably in some places in this area, thousands of acres of land became saline.
  • As the water level was reduced, the farmers’ agricultural production stopped on such land after which the land became barren. 
  • The economic condition of the farmers was also disturbed due to non-fertile land. 
• Introduction of Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana:
  • Keeping in view the condition of farmers across the country, the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana was implemented by the central government to promote the Blue Revolution.
  • Sirsa district now has the highest number of fish cultivators in Haryana.
  • Market:
    • From Sirsa, the fish is exported to various countries including China. 
    • Its seeds and feed are brought by fisheries traders from Andhra Pradesh. Buyers also hail from Telangana and West Bengal.

Status of Fisheries Sector & way ahead

• The fisheries sector has been recognized as a powerful income and employment generator as it stimulates growth of a number of subsidiary industries and is a source of cheap and nutritious food, at the same time it is an instrument of livelihood for a large section of the economically backward population of the country. 
• Fishery sector occupies an important place in the socio-economic development of the country.
• India is the 3rd largest fish producing and 2nd largest aquaculture nation in the world after China. 
• The Blue Revolution in India demonstrated the importance of the Fisheries and Aquaculture sector. 
• The sector is considered as a sunrise sector and is poised to play a significant role in the Indian economy in near future. 

Source: Business Today