BANGALORE: Mega sea food parks, which provide facilities for processing fish food, their preservation and value addition, will come up in Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada under the Pradhan Mantri Matsaya Sampada Yojana, said Minister for Fisheries, Ports, Inland Water Transport and Muzrai Kota Srinivasa Poojary.

 

Speaking at the Rajyotsava celebrations at the Nehru Maidan, Mr. Poojary said that each food park will be set up at an the estimated cost of Rs.100 crore. He told reporters later that a search is on for identifying land. “We are looking on 80 acres of land in Niddodi near Moodbidri and also a place in Puttur taluk for the park in Dakshina Kannada. It will be finalised in another 20 days,” he said.

 

Mr. Poojary said apart from fish processing units, each mega food park will have cold storage facility and mechanisms for preparing value added products. “Only wealthy fishermen have these facilities now. At these food parks, small time fishermen can make use of the cold storage facilities,” he said.

 

The parks in the two districts will be set up on a pilot basis and more such parks will be set up in other parts of the State later, he said.