Data from the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying reveals that inland fish production in Nagaland has seen no growth over the past seven years. In the last nine years, the increase has been a mere 1000 tonnes, with the figure remaining constant at 0.09 lakh tonnes since the financial year 2016-17. The state’s lack of progress stands in contrast to the North-East region’s overall average annual growth rate of 5.38% in inland fish production from 2014-15 to 2022-23.
The data indicates that Assam has been a major driver of this growth, contributing over 66% of the total production in the region. In the same period, Nagaland experienced an average annual growth of just 0.08%, reaching a total production of 0.79 lakh tonnes in the last nine years.
The Ministry’s written reply to an unstarred question in the parliament highlighted the success of the Blue Revolution scheme implemented from 2015-16 to 2019-20, with projects worth Rs. 391.95 crore sanctioned for the North-East States. Building on this, the Government of India launched the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) in 2020-21, with an investment of Rs. 20,050 crore for five years to enhance fish production. PMMSY projects with a total outlay of Rs. 1391.62 crore have been approved for North-East States from 2020-21 to 2023-24.
To further support aquaculture farmers and fishers, the Government of India extended the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) facility to them in 2018-19. A total of 1,70,674 KCCs, with a loan amount of Rs. 1893.43 crore, have been issued, including 16,870 KCCs in North-East States. Despite these initiatives, Nagaland’s inland fish production remains stagnant, emphasizing the need for targeted strategies to boost the sector in the state.