The Hindu Business Line : ADB to give $5-m grant to Kerala, TN

Helping hand
The project to be carried out over three years.
A fully serviced fishing village complex to be set up.
To support a range of fishing-related activities.
Inland aquaculture farms for breeding high-value fish and cage farming in the backwaters will also be supported.

Thiruvananthapuram , July 14

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $5-million grant to help fishing communities and others in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, who were affected by the December 2004 tsunami.

The grant project from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, financed by the Government of Japan, will pilot new ways to generate income in the fishing communities in selected districts in both States, says an ADB press release.

Project agencies

The Government, non-Governmental organisations and beneficiaries will contribute the equivalent of $7,00,000 toward the project's total cost of $5.7 million, the release adds. Kerala's Department of Disaster Management and the Disaster Management and Mitigation Department in Tamil Nadu are the executing agencies of the project, which will be carried out over three years.

Fishing activities

As part of the project, a fully serviced fishing village complex will be set up and will serve as a model for replication in other districts, the release says.

However, it does not state where the fishing village complex will be set up.

The fishing village will support a range of fishing-related activities such as fish curing, vending, marketing and trading, and even ice production and supply, the release says.

The village will also nurture fish processing and marketing through special outlets, as well as new low-energy fish processing techniques and coastal market infrastructure for hygienic fish marketing. In addition, cooperative retail outlets will be established, the release adds.

Livelihood activities

As part of an effort to diversify livelihood activities for about 5,000 people, the project will restore 1,000 acres of small farmlands, establish small-scale dairies with market links, develop organic vegetable farms, establish agro-processing cooperatives and provide training to improve the production process of traditional products.

Activities such as inland aquaculture farms for breeding high value fish and cage farming in the backwaters will also be supported to provide long-term jobs for about 1,000 people and increase fish production, the release adds.

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