The Department of Fisheries signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) in the presence of Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala in New Delhi.
Minister of State Dr. L Murugan, Secretary (Fisheries) Dr Abhilaksh Likhi, Joint Secretary (Inland Fisheries), Sagar Mehra, MD, ONDC T. Koshy and other esteemed dignitaries were present at the occasion.
Parshottam Rupala also released a booklet “From Catch to Commerce, Increasing Market Access through Digital Transformation”.
Objective of the collaboration is to enable traditional fishermen, fish farmers producer organization, entrepreneurs from fisheries sector to buy and sell their products through e-market place. ONDC’s unique platform of e-marketing will play a significant role in the fisheries sector by connecting fishermen, fish farmers, FFPOs, self-help groups and other fishermen cooperatives.
Union Minister Parshottam Rupala interacted with representatives of FFPOs, who shared their experiences of before and after getting onboarded at ONDC platform. Further, FFPOs shared about their success stories like development of live fish transport units. Rupala appreciated the efforts from FFPOs and encouraged them to adopt further automation in future in the processing of fish products.
Parshottam Rupala emphasized about the need for automation in the value chain and fish processing units during his interactions with fishermen and FFPOs. He said that the collaboration of Department of Fisheries with ONDC will unlock the potential of digital commerce in the fisheries sector.
He said that collaboration bring benefits for fisheries industries like reduced transaction costs, increased market reach, improved transparency, increased competition and competitiveness, innovation, and employment generation.
The Union Minister also highlighted that this is a historical MoU signed between DoF and ONDC towards fulfillment of Digital India initiative.
Dr. L Murugan said that collaboration of the 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 platforms for buying and selling fish products will help to encourage domestic fish consumption.
Dr Abhilaksh Likhi highlighted the 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 be allowed 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 approx. 3000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) have registered on ONDC through various networks. 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 occasion witnessed the involvement of around 120 stakeholders physically including department of fisheries officials, fisherfolks, fish farmer producer organizations, entrepreneurs, and fishermen cooperatives.
