Access to information and timely adoption of technology
Commercial aquaculture in India can be traced back to the early 1990s which was designed to boost foreign exchange reserves in liberalised India under the New Economic Policy of 1991. Shrimp, majorly, and few fish and other species were compartmentalised as an export item and were pricey. Shrimp farming was practiced initially as a primitive form of aquaculture, by impounding wild seeds collected from estuaries. Hatchery and feed technologies were standardised and scientific culture regimes got streamlined in due course of time. The international market, which was starved of tropical shrimp, lapped up whatever came its way. Therefore, adoption of technology in its physical form easily blended with culture practices and thus enhanced employment, income and growth in aquaculture.
IT-driven aquaculture
Adoption of new technology enables the shift of the production function up by producing the same output at lower input costs or higher levels of output with the same level of inputs in real and value terms. Access to information and adoption of technology holds the key to effective utilisation of resources. Farm-level economies of considerable scale are achieved through effective control of a multitude of factors including the input and output supply chains generating a healthy value chain. Information access is key to the generation of such a healthy value chain and a strong bottom line for the small farmer. The spread and adoption of IT in aquaculture was kicked off by mobile apps that ensured delivery of fish and shrimp to Indian households under a severely constrained market environment.
These apps have now been highly refined and improved. Yet, shrimp and fish farmers are an agitated lot, unable to find a way out of escalating costs of production, disease issues, opaque markets, poor returns on investment not commensurating with monetary commitments and non-monetary sacrifices. The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana had made substantial inroads in enabling substantial improvements in creation of physical infrastructure, credit and insurance support for fisheries and aquaculture growth.
The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Kisan Samridhi-Saha Yojana 2023 to 2027 aims to support the fisheries sector with specifically well directed schemes to ease financial and technological interventions in the sector. It is heartening to note the only full stack aquaculture tech platform has entered aquaculture biological research and production with an investment of $4.5 million in March 2025. The scheme seeks to use a data-driven approach to accelerate product validation, optimising field parameters and sharing insights with its R&D team. Ultimately, it’s the small fish and shrimp farmer and small scale marine fisher who need to understand and adopt technology that would minimise or eliminate loss of their produce and income.
Several models like strictly regimented contract farming in aquaculture need to be popularised with IT platform support that would ensure end to end control of the supply chain ensuring maximisation of the value chain. It is also necessary to make the investment climate conducive to attract internationally renowned IT driven mariculture companies under FDI with a single rider to co-opt local fishers in day to day operations.
Reverse FDI in aquaculture
We need to take international competition in seafood exports to the competitor’s doorsteps by reverse FDI in Central American countries exploiting favorable exchange rate vis-à-vis Indian rupee, low-cost production environment and proximity to the high value, high volume US market. Promotion of fish and shrimp consumption in the domestic market needs to first concentrate on generating enough volumes of output to bring down prices attractive to local consumers, simultaneously tapping urban, peri-urban and rural markets via advertisements focused on health and nutrition. Fisheries education needs to be reoriented towards making students IT proficient thus making them industry ready.