Digital India initiative: Opening up e-mkt for fishermen, fish farmers
NEW DELHI: Traditional fishermen, fish farmers producer organisations and entrepreneurs from the fisheries sector will now be able to buy and sell their products through e-market place.
With a view to provide a digital platform and empower all stakeholders in the fisheries sector, the Department of Fisheries signed an MoU with Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) here on Monday. More importantly, the program envisions a comprehensive approach which will ensure that small- scale fishers and marginalised communities have equal access to market opportunities, fostering social inclusion and equitable economic development.
The MoU was inked in the presence of Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala, Minister of State Dr. L Murugan, Secretary (Fisheries) Dr Abhilaksh Likhi, Joint Secretary (Inland Fisheries), Sagar Mehra, MD, ONDC . T. Koshy and other dignitaries.
Parshottam Rupala also released a booklet “From Catch to Commerce, Increasing Market Access through Digital Transformation”.
ONDC is a unique platform of e-marketing that will play a significant role in the fisheries sector by connecting fishermen, fish farmers, FFPOs, self-help groups and other fishermen cooperatives in a structured manner.
Interacting with the Minister, representatives of FFPOs, who shared their experiences of before and after getting onboard at ONDC platform shared about their success stories like development of live fish transport unit. The Minister appreciated the efforts from FFPOs and encouraged them to adopt further automation in future in the processing of fish products.
Parshottam Rupala emphasized on the need for automation in the value chain and fish processing units. He informed that this collaboration of Department of Fisheries with ONDC will not only address these challenges but catalyze the unlocking of the potential of digital commerce in the field of Indian Fisheries sector. He stressed that collaboration would serve numerous benefits for fisheries industries like reduced transaction costs, increased market reach, improved transparency, increased competition & competitiveness, innovation, and employment generation.
Further, he expressed his happiness over providing a digital platform to the traditional fishermen, FFPOs and other stakeholders for buying and selling fish and fish products through e-market. Union Minister also highlighted that, this is a historical MoU signed between DoF and ONDC towards fulfillment of Digital India initiative.
Dr. L Murugan shared that collaboration of Department of Fisheries with ONDC shall be a groundbreaking initiative to revolutionize and this initiative will also provide a platform for promoting value-added fisheries related products which will allow producers to capture higher margins and diversify their product offerings. He highlighted the need to enhance domestic fish consumption and this initiative of DoF to connect all traditional fishermen, FFPOs on Digital platform for buying and selling fish products will help to encourage domestic fish consumption.
Dr Abhilaksh Likhi stressed upon the need for capacity building, training and outreach to empower fishermen for utilizing the various applications and features of Open Network for Digital Commerce. He highlighted that stakeholders will also be enabled to differentiate their products based on quality, certifications, sustainable practices and will allow to choose the options among them.
Joint Secretary (Fisheries) Sagar Mehra highlighted about the initiative of the Department of fisheries in collaboration with ONDC, and informed that DoF has supported the formation of 2195 FFPOs under PMMSY and around 35 FFPOs have already been onboarded on the network of ONDC covering 10 States (Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal).
T Koshy briefed about the ONDC highlighting the benefits to fishermen, FFPOs, fishermen cooperatives, sellers etc. through collaboration followed by a short video.
He informed that about 3000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) have registered on ONDC through various networks.
Also, around 400 Self-Help Groups (SHGs), micro-entrepreneurs and social sector enterprises have been onboarded on the network to command premium prices in the market and create value-added products tailored to consumers.
The MoU signing ceremony witnessed the involvement of 120 stakeholders physically, including department of fisheries officials, fisherfolks, fish farmer producer organizations, entrepreneurs, fishermen cooperatives.
