Bank of Baroda inks Memorandum of Understanding with State government

Amaravati: Department of Fisheries, Government of Andhra Pradesh, designed a novel scheme under the brand name "Fish Andhra" through the establishment of aqua hubs in line with Pradhana Mantri Mathsya Sampadha Yojana (PMMSY), a Central Government Scheme.

Under this project it is proposed to establish 100 aqua hubs and approximately 14,000 outlets of different size and nature across the State of Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh stands first in the country in the fisheries sector both in terms of production and total value of aqua and contributes 8.67 % of State's GDP. Fisheries and aquaculture remain an important source of food, nutrition, employment and income for millions, especially the rural populations.

In spite of having highest production, the per capita consumption of fish products is low in AP. The fish supply chain in AP is commonly dependent upon unorganised players.

With the objective of enhanced domestic consumption, Department of Fisheries, Govt of Andhra Pradesh has developed a well-structured Hub & Spoke model to cater quality aqua products to the households across AP.

Each aqua hub constitutes -140- beneficiaries and the project cost is about Rs 5.50 crore as a whole. Department of Fisheries shall be the nodal agency at the State level for implementation of the scheme and the promotion of Aqua Hubs.

Bank of Baroda, one of the country's largest public sector banks, which is having more than 250 branches across the State of AP and supporting the government in implementing number of welfare and developmental schemes has come forward to assist and finance the entire 14,000 beneficiaries for setting up of Aqua units under this Fish Andhra Scheme.

On Friday, K Kannababu, Commissioner, Dept of Fisheries, Ch Rajasekhar, Deputy and Ch Raja Sekhar, Deputy General Manager, Vijayawada region, Bank of Baroda informed that a well-structured design and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) have been devised for implementation of this Fish Andhra Project through Bank of Baroda as a sole banker across the state of Andhra Pradesh.