VIJAYAWADA: Aqua farmers in the Krishna- Godavari region are looking forward to the upgrade of Gannavaram Airport and facilities at Machilipatnam Port as they are expected to give a fillip to the aqua industry.
Apart from Visakhapatnam and Krishnapatnam sea ports, the other international gateway is Hyderabad Airport. If Gannavaram Airport is developed, the aqua farmers do not have to look to Telangana capital for export of marine products.
According to a report released by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) in regard to marine products exports from India during 2014-15 financial year, Visakhapatnam Port topped the charts with a 11 per cent share in the total marine products exports from the country through sea route with a growth rate of 13.24 per cent. Krishnapatnam, another upcoming port, which had started handling such exports a couple of years, had registered an impressive growth of 56.63 per cent.
When it comes to exporting marine products from airports, Shamshabad International Airport at Hyderabad had achieved an impressive 314.72 per cent growth rate. Given the vast scope for marine products exports from the state and emerging aquaculture and food processing centre, the need to upgrade Gannavaram Airport in Vijayawada and earlier development of Machilipatnam Port are being stressed.
Bhimavaram in West Godavari, which is emerging as an aquaculture capital of the state, is much closer to Vijayawada and Machilipatnam than any of the nearest seaport or airport. Further, in Krishna district itself, aquaculture units are emerging rapidly. Hence, the demand for necessary warehouses, cold storage units and cargo handling facilities and both airport and seaport to handle live and frozen marine products is a must.
“In the next couple of years, the food processing centre, more so marine product processing centres, will grow rapidly in the region. We are expecting a significant increase in marine products exports from the region in the next couple of years,” Dr Kandan, deputy director of MPEDA (Aqua) Vijayawada said.
He opined that for that to happen, improvement of road connectivity needs to be taken up on priority and policy-makers should realise the need for upgrading the cargo handling facilities at Gannavaram Airport, the only airport in the region. He said it would help in faster movement of perishable commodities from Bhimavaram also and prove more economical.
At the same time, it would also fetch good revenue to the airport, he said.
