National Federation of Fishermen’s Cooperative known in short as Fishcofed wishes to offer you fresh fish at reasonable rate, just the way Amul ,another cooperative offers you milk at your door . Its Managing Director B K Mishra wishes to open fish shops across the country to offer you fresh fish. There are about 23 lakhs fishermen to make him realize his dream. Only hitch is lack of space to sell.
Taking over in 2006 Mr. Mishra has indeed turned around the Fishcofed. Opening four offices in Guahati, Bhuvneshwar, Raipur and Hydrebad, Fishcofed has plans to open office in Mumbai. Not long ago, in 2005 Fishcofed has come on the verge of closure. Government had to appoint an administrator. Finally, a new board was put in place in 2006 and in a short period of four years Fishcofed has registered a growth of two and a half times. It is supplying fish to ITDC hotel in Delhi to the tune of rupees 1.2 crores.
Fishcofed had limitations in its bye-laws in the sense that only state, district or region can be its member, primary societies are not allowed to be its member. B K Mishra, the MD says that board members are thinking of change in the bye-law so that the reach of Fishcofed is enhanced.
It is also very weak in the northern states as there is no fishery society in Haryana ,Himachal Pradesh or Kashmir . However, Fishcofed has created a water body of 180 hectares in Chattisgarh and has increased its productions 5 times here.
One of the activities which has made Fishcofed popular among fishermen is the insurance cover it offers to them. It goes to the credit of P K Mishra, the Managing Director who got the insurance cover increased from 50 thousand to 1 lakh. About 29 lakh fishermen are getting this cover. Any fisherman in the age group of 18 to 70 can avail this facility and it has a very high claim settlement rate, to the tune of 70%. Mr. Mishra wants to increase the scope of insurance to fishing nets, boats and other items related to fishermen.
Though it provides training program to fishermen, Fishcofed is requesting government to help it achieve the aim of widening its scope. Many of its members such as Benfish in Kolkata, Matsayafed in Trivenduram and GFCC in Ahmadabad are leading fish supplier not only in India but also abroad.