Hyderabad, October 10, 2017: Hyderabad will host South Asia’s biggest knowledge and technology Conference in Fisheries from March 15 – 17 2018 in Hitex Exhibition Center. The three-day event is expected to attract more than 200 exhibitors from several countries and regions across the world.
Fisheries sector provides employment, income and livelihood for about 14.5 million people in the country. The fish production has increased from 0.75 MMT in 1950-51 to about 10.79 MMT during 2016-17 and the production over the years has shifted from capture fisheries to aquaculture during the period. During the last four decades aquaculture has emerged as the major source for increasing fish production as capture fisheries has declined and stagnated by the turn of the century.
Today India ranks second next to China in both total fish production and Aquaculture production. The annual export of fish and fishery products from India has crossed Rs. 30,000 Crores and the sector has shown uniform growth rate of 5 to 6 % over the years. India exports seafood to 101 countries. The majority of the exports are made up of frozen shrimp, frozen fish, cuttlefish, dried items and squid. The fisheries sector provides affordable protein supplement to our population and helps in nutritional security of the nation.
Announcing the objective behind AquaEx India 2018 Organizers of the event said “Our idea is to create a global platform for Indian Fisheries & Aquaculture by bringing the latest technologies, services, equipment & machinery across the globe for the benefit of Indian Fisheries & Aquaculture sector. We also want the world to see and have insights about our nation’s fisheries trade potential and open the doors to thousands of seafood professionals from countries around the world seeking to grow their businesses in the global market.”
Explaining the significance of this event and the purpose of this global event V Ramachandra Raju , President, SIFA said “Though the Indian Fisheries & Aquaculture is growing steadily over the years, industry needs support in terms of new technologies, new species, quality inputs, efficient equipment and machinery, better services, quality manpower and efficient marketing to further increase the fish production and productivity to result in profitability and sustainability. Through this platform we hope to address and to a large extent help solve these issues”.
Dr. Vijay Gupta, chairman advisory board of SIFA said the forming of the society (SIFA) is a big step to integrate the eco system and address the issues of farmers, processors and other stakeholders. The industry has a voice now and it will help in sharing recommendations to policy makers about enhancing the production of fisheries output in India. He also added that India has huge potential to grow its domestic consumption and also become a leading export nation for aqua products. The industry also offers huge potential for employment generation.
Dr Suvarna Chandrappagari, IFS, Commissioner, Fisheries at Government of Telangana said the Government is keen to support the growth of the industry in the state. She said the opportunities are huge in developing pond, cage aqua industry in the state. We would like to encourage new entrepreneurs to venture into this sector and we are hopeful we will be able to contribute to the growth of the industry and aqua consumption.
Of late Hyderabad has emerged as the meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions (MICE) destination of India hosting major events. This trade fair at Hitex will have participants from different country associations in relevant industries and several leading companies from the trade to boost trade, business and knowhow networking opportunities.
About Society for Indian Fisheries and Aquaculture, SIFA: SIFA is formed to address the issues of the fisheries and aquaculture industry to achieve increased production, productivity and profitability for sustainability. SIFA will serve as a common platform to address the needs of all stakeholders of the industry to achieve Blue Revolution in the country.
