Naidu Seeks Relief For Aquaculture Farmers; Writes Letter To Centre

In separate letters to commerce minister Piyush Goyal, agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the CM sought immediate policy support for aqua farmers, exporters and feed manufacturers.

Naidu said the 50 per cent additional tariff imposed by the US on shrimp imports has pushed the overall tax burden on Indian exports to nearly 60 per cent, severely impacting aqua exports from AP. He feared that the crisis could affect annual exports worth around `25,000 crore and threaten the livelihoods of nearly 2.5 lakh aqua farmer families and more than 30 lakh workers dependent on the sector.

He also highlighted the steep increase in feed manufacturing costs and urged the Centre to address issues relating to incentives for fish meal exports and restrictions on soy imports, which are believed to be contributing to rising feed prices.

Naidu noted that domestic prices of aqua products have already fallen by 20 to 25 per cent due to weak export demand. The state government, he said, has already reduced shrimp feed prices by `9 per kg and is supplying power to aqua farmers at a subsidised rate of `1.50 per unit to cushion the impact.

Seeking additional support, Naidu urged the Centre to enhance working capital limits by 30 per cent, provide a 240-day moratorium on interest payments and grant temporary exemption from five per cent interest and five per cent GST burden.

He also requested the Centre to negotiate with the US for tariff reduction while simultaneously expanding shrimp exports to alternative markets such as Russia, the European Union and Australia.

The CM called for inclusion of shrimp in the food menu of the Indian Armed Forces, enhancement of the Kisan Credit Card limit for aqua farmers to `1 lakh and introduction of special railway transport facilities for shrimp movement from southern to northern states.

In his letter to Sitharaman, Naidu sought a `100-crore corpus fund through the national fisheries development board for setting up a prawn producers coordination committee in AP and establishment of an additional regional fisheries institute in the state.