Protest is brewing in Kerala over the reported move to shift headquarters of Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) from Kochi.
In a letter to the Union Commerce Minister, Piyush Goyal, Parliament members from Kerala Hibi Eden and TN Prathapan said that “any move to relocate MPEDA headquarters is against the interest of Kerala’s fisheries sector”.
They pointed out that the presence of MPEDA headquarters in Kochi was instrumental in the development of fishery exports from the State, which is amounting to ₹5,000 crore. Besides, there exists more registered manufacturing exporters, merchant exporters, ornamental fish exporters than any other States in the country.
Fisheries is a major sector in Kerala having many export-oriented units contributing three per cent to the State’s economy, the MPs said.
Shift to AP
Rumours are rife in the State on the shifting of MPEDA headquarters to Andhra Pradesh which contributes a major share in India’s seafood export basket. Highly placed sources in the seafood sector cited a similar move a few years back following the lobbying of exporters and the Andhra Pradesh government, considering their State as the single largest contributor of India’s shrimp exports, especially the Vannamei varieties.
Rather than shifting, the sources said that Andhra Pradesh needs more export related services, more quality control and disease diagnostic labs. The presence of physical infrastructure has nothing to do with export promotion considering the expenditure involved in the shifting of an administrative entity.
The need of the hour is to develop a disease research programme to develop fast growing and disease-resistant shrimps which will enable Andhra Pradesh to become a No. 1 producer and exporter of shrimps not only in India but in the whole world, the sources added.
Industry sources said that Kerala is having more number of seafood processing units, besides the presence of government agencies such as CMFRI, CIFT, CIFNET, FSSAI. All their operations will be hit with the move to shift the MPEDA headquarters to other place. Today, Andhra Pradesh is the leading seafood exporter followed by Gujarat. If Gujarat overtakes Andhra, there could be a similar demand from that State for having a headquarter, the source said.