Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying has launched three national flagship programmes viz., Genetic Improvement Programme of Indian White Shrimp (Penaeus indicus), National Surveillance Programme on Fish Diseases (NSPAAD-II).
National Surveillance Programme on Fish Diseases (NSPAAD-II)
- The Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying has sanctioned the NSPAAD: Phase-II under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana programme of the Govt. of India.
- The phase-II will be implemented at pan-India, and all the State Fisheries Departments along with Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) are expected to play an important role in this nationally important surveillance programme.
- India is the third largest fish producing country with a fish production of 14.73 million metric tonnes and one of the largest exporters of farmed shrimps around 7 lakh tonnes. However, the country loses about 7200 crores annually due to diseases.
- Therefore, early detection and managing the spread of diseases is considered crucial for controlling the diseases.
- Considering the importance, the Government of India is implemented the National Surveillance Programme for Aquatic Animal Diseases (NSPAAD) since 2013 with a major emphasis on strengthening farmer-based disease surveillance system, so that disease cases are reported at once, investigated and scientific support is provided to the farmers.
Genetic Improvement Programme of Indian White Shrimp (Penaeus indicus)
- The “Genetic improvement program of Penaeus indicus (Indian white shrimp)-Phase-I” has been sanctioned with an outlay of Rs.25 crores under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) under the Central sector scheme to establish a National Genetic Improvement Facility for shrimp breeding.
- These programs will lead to “Atamanirbharata” for shrimp brood stock, which is at present imported from other countries.
- The farmed shrimp alone contributes about 70% of India’s seafood exports worth Rs. 42000 crores.
- However, the shrimp farming sector mostly depends on one exotic Specific Pathogen Free stock of Pacific white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) species.
- It is highly risky to depend on one species for the production of 10 lakh tonnes with huge investments on farming infrastructure and the livelihoods of two lakh farm families directly and around ten lakh families indirectly associated in the ancillary sectors.
- Therefore, to break this single species dependence and to promote indigenous species vis-à-vis exotic shrimp species ICAR-CIBA has taken up the genetic improvement of programme of Indian white shrimp, P. indicus as a national priority under the Make in India flagship program.
Shrimp Crop Insurance
- ICAR-CIBA developed a Shrimp Crop Insurance product with the support of Alliance Insurance brokers which was filed with the IRDAI by Oriental Insurance Company Limited, New Delhi in October 2022.
- The product charges differential premium based on location and requirements of the individual farmer from 3.7 to 7.7 % of input costs and farmer will be compensated to the tune of 80 % loss of input cost in the event of total crop loss. i.e., more than 70% crop loss.
