THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
The Kerala State Coastal Area Development Corporation (KSCADC), an initiative of the state Fisheries Department, has secured export orders worth Rs 49.5 lakh of value-added fish products from the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
The documents relating to the shipment of two containers of products were received by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian at the Chief Minister’s Chamber today.
The documents were handed over by Anas K K ,Managing Director of IAN Overseas Pvt Ltd, the export merchants firm through which the export is being executed.
With this , Kerala has set a model with a state agency exporting marine products to global markets, leveraging the upfront policy framework of the state government.
The project seeks to scale up entrepreneurial and employment opportunities in the state’s fisheries sector by promoting export of its own brand of dried fish, frozen fish and a variety of other marine products worth Rs 10 to Rs 100 crore.
K S Srinivas, Principal Secretary Fisheries Department, P I Sheik Pareeth, MD KSCADC, Sony Cherian Kuruvilla, CMO (Intl), KSCADC, and IAN Exports Pvt Ltd’s CEO Abdul Kareem, COO Shajahan and Head of Marketing Dennis Babu were present.
Last year, KSCADC had shipped 12 items of value-added fish to these countries as sample consignments and they received high ratings for quality, processing methods and packaging.
Niche markets like UAE, UK and Europe have also expressed keen interest in having the processed and value-added items from KSCADC.
The items going into the shipment were processed and packaged by KSCADC’s solar-powered Fish Processing Centre (FPC) at Sakthikulangara near Kollam, fully adhering to international standards relating to quality and energy.
The state-of-the-art facility was set up, and operates, with the support and guidelines of reputed establishments like the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), National Institute of Post-harvest Technology and Training (NIFPHATT) and other central and state agencies like Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), Export Inspection Agency (EIA), and the State Pollution Control Board.
The facility currently has a capacity to dry 1 ton fish per day. It has successfully routed a variety of ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook products to both domestic and global markets.
The FPC also stands out due to its women empowerment initiative as majority of the workers it engages are women in all stages of processing and packaging.
Set up to facilitate sustainable and inclusive progress of coastal communities, KSCADC has pioneered a slew of projects based on innovative solutions across the state.
