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Kerala seafood exports fall

Sanu George in Thiruvananthapuram

At a time when the money spinning seafood exports from India have registered a record growth, Kerala's share in the pie has fallen from Rs 11.37 billion to Rs 10.31 billion.

The value of seafood exports from the country went up from Rs 51.17 billion in 1999-2000 to Rs 63 billion in 2000-01.

Kerala was a leader of seafood exports in the late 1980s and early 1990s and had a 40 per cent stake in the lucrative market.

In a bid to take Kerala back to where it belonged, Seafood Exporters Association of India officials have submitted a memorandum to Kerala Chief Minister A K Antony asking for changes in the state's seafood policies.

SEAI secretary Sandu Joseph said the decline in Kerala's share of seafood exports is continuing unabated. "Initial figures reveal the share of Kerala's marine exports fell by 10 per cent in the first quarter of this year as compared to the same period last year," Joseph said.

"One reason for the spurt in marine exports from states like Andhra Pradesh is the massive production from aquaculture farms. Andhra today exports 80,000 tonnes of shrimp from its aquaculture farms. Six years ago, Kerala led the rest of the country with 5,000 tonnes of annual exports, a figure which has remained unchanged."

A J Tharakan, president of the Kerala chapter of the SEAI, said the body had asked Antony to see that "a special seafood economic zone was set up in areas which are strong in this sector and also undertake a massive infrastructural development drive with special emphasis on power, treatment of effluents and clean water supply to all units engaged in seafood production."

Tharakan said certain outdated laws in Kerala like the Land Ceiling Act had to be revamped. According to the present act, no company can own more than 15 acres of land, and since aquaculture farming needs hundreds of acres of land, no company is willing to come to Kerala under the present laws.

Countries like Thailand, now the leader in aquaculture with production of 350,000 tonnes valued at close to $3 billion, have turned all uneconomic paddy fields into aquaculture farms.

Moreover, with the cost of production from aquaculture farms being much less than that of the catch from the sea, seafood companies in Kerala that get their fish from the sea find it difficult to compete with countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia where aquaculture farms are doing extremely well.

Another reason for Kerala's poor performance has been the fluctuating currencies in Southeast Asia. States like Andhra Pradesh have been able to set this off because their cost of production is much less than Kerala's on account of the huge output from their aquaculture farms.

Tharakan laments that Kerala's share in seafood exports has fallen even while it leads the rest of the country in seafood processing factories. "Of the 95 European Union approved factories, 55 are in Kerala, but we have a share of just 16.40 per cent of the total output from the country."

In the last two years, no new seafood factory has come up in Kerala. Of the 121 registered seafood factories in Kerala, only 50 are active.

Business houses in Kerala involved in seafood exports have started opening factories in states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka because of better facilities.

The SEAI hopes Antony will take steps to revive the industry in Kerala.

"Give him some time. We are hopeful that he will help us," said a confident Tharakan.

Indo-Asian News Service

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