eSanta: Platform for Marine Products

The Union Minister Shri Piyush Goyal recently launched a platform called “eSanta” for marine products. The main aim of the platform is to empower aqua farmers.

About eSanta

• The farmers can sell their produce in eSanta portal.
• It is a bridge between the buyers and the farmers.
• The eSanta portal eliminates the necessity of middlemen completely.
• The portal is available in languages such as English, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Odiya and Bengali.
• The initiative to launch eSanta portal was taken by NaCSA.

NaCSA

National Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture is an arm of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) that operates under Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The main objective of NaCSA is to encourage and uplift small and marginal farmers through organisation of clusters and also by adopting best practices in shrimp culture.

Benefits of the portal

• The use of modern tools and techniques like that of eSanta will help to increase shrimp production from the current 40,000 tonnes to six to seven lakh tonnes.
• The portal will benefit 18,000 farmers who are currently contributing to marine exports of the country.

Need for eSanta portal

The aqua products are exported to America, European Union, China, Japan and other Asian countries. In spite of ranking second in aquaculture in the world, aqua farmers in India are facing difficulties to get best price from the market. The portal will help to address this problem.

Fishing in India

The fishing in India employs 14.5 million people. It contributes to 1.07% of total GDP.

National Fish Farmers Day

Every year, India celebrates National Fish Farmers Day on July 10.

Issues of Fishing Economy in India

The fish production in India has increased from 7.52 lakh tonnes in 1950-51 to 125.90 lakh tonnes in 2018-19. In spite of the rapid growth in the industry, annual production of an individual fish farmer is only 2 tonnes. On other hand, it is 6 tonnes in China, 72 tonnes in Chile and 172 tonnes in Norway.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2021