Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Mopidevi Venkata Ramana Rao laid the foundation stone for an aqua quarantine facility at Bangarammapeta village of Nakkapalli mandal in the district on Wednesday.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the Minister said that the facility will be set up with an estimated expenditure of ₹34.76 crore in 30 acres. The project was jonitly funded by the Central and the State governments.
The facility would be useful to the farmers of nine coastal districts in the State. Now, many shrip hatcheries in the coastal areas are supplying fingerlings to farmers aquaculture farmers across the State.
The mother prawns, which is used to raise the seeds, would be imported and quarantined before they are supplied to hatcheries.
Huge cost
“Earlier, shrimp quarantine facility is available only in Chennai and shrimp farmers in the State are incurring huge expenditure for procuring the mother prawns. The proposed facility will address all the issues,” said the Minister.
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy took the initiative and it was decided to set up the facility at Nakkapalli.
The Animal Husbandry Minister also spoke at length about various welfare schemes introduced by the government.
Anakapalle MP B.V. Satyavathi and Payakaraopeta MLA G. Babu Rao and others participated in the programme.
