The online marketplace will help the fish farmers and stakeholders to source the inputs such as fish seeds, feed, medicines, etc.
Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, launched the Online Market Place feature “Aqua Bazar” in the “MatsyaSetu” mobile app during the 9th general body meeting of the National Fisheries Development Board. The app was developed by the ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (ICAR-CIFA), Bhubaneswar, with the funding support of the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Hyderabad through the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY). The online marketplace 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. The marketplace aims to connect all stakeholders in the aquaculture sector.
While addressing the gathering, Parshottam Rupala, Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying, stated that capacity building of fish farmers should be given top priority. Intensive training courses should be organized and exposure visits should be organized for the farmers.
ICAR-CIFA and NFDB have developed this digital platform to bring all the stakeholders to 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 listings are categorized into the following major categories; fish seeds, input materials, services, jobs, and table fish. Every listing will contain detailed information about the product, price, available quantity, supply area, etc. 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. Interested fish buyers will contact the farmers and offer their prices. It will certainly help the farmers to receive more business enquiries from buyers or buyer agents who procure fish, paving the way for increased awareness about the market situation and better price realization of farmers’ produce.
