Market feature on Matsya Setu app to benefit fish farmers, connect aquaculture stakeholders

Fish farmers across the country can now gather information about the demand for fishes in the markets as well as list their fish stocks for sale by downloading a mobile phone application.

Matsya Setu — the application which was launched by the Bhubaneswar-based Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA) in July, last year, has been updated with a new feature named 'Aqua Bazar'.

"The online market place will help the fish farmers and stakeholders to source the inputs such as fish seeds, feed, medicines, etc., and services required for fish culture as well as farmers can also list their table size fish for sale," CIFA informed in a statement.

The new feature in the application was launched in the presence of Parshottam Rupala, the Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying on August 18.

"Reliable information about the timely availability of quality inputs at the right place is very much crucial for the success and development of freshwater aquaculture in the country," the official statement mentioned.

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It added that at times, fish farmers face problems in sourcing the critical, quality inputs such as fish seeds, feed, feed ingredients, fertilisers, nutraceuticals, additives, and medicines, during the crop season. Any delay in obtaining these inputs adversely affects the productivity of their fish culture operation.

"To address the problem, ICAR-CIFA and NFDB [National Fisheries Development Board] has developed this digital platform to bring all the stakeholders in one place. Through this platform, any registered vendor can list their input materials. The listed items will be displayed in the marketplace based on geographical proximity to the app user," the statement informed.

The listings in the Aqua Bazar feature of the application are categorised into the following categories; fish seeds, input materials, services, jobs and table fish.

Every listing will contain the detailed information about the product, price, available quantity, supply area along with the seller's contact details.

"The needy farmers/stakeholders can contact the vendors and fulfil their procurements. The feature also allows the fish farmers to list their grown table size fish/fish seeds for sale with an option to indicate the date of availability along with the price offer," the statement noted.

"Interested fish buyers will contact the farmers and offer their price. It will certainly help the farmers to receive more number of business enquiry from buyers or buyer agents who procure fish, paving the way for increased awareness about the market situation and better price realization of farmer's produce," it added.

App launched to address the exigencies of COVID-19 pandemic

During the launch of the Matsya Setu application last year, Saroj Kumar Swain, director, CIFA, had told Gaon Connection that it had become difficult for the fish farmers to reach out to the government agencies during the pandemic.

"So we decided to do something that would enable us to reach information about aqua culture to them at their homes. While we were having several virtual training sessions, those were limiting. No more than a hundred people could take part in them. That was when we thought of developing an app that had no such limitations and everyone could use it," the official added.