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Agartala: Northeast Indian states are among the highest consumers of fish in the country, with Tripura having the highest proportion of fish consumers at 99.35 percent, a recent survey found.
Apart from the Northeast, states from Eastern India along with Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Goa, boasted the highest fish-eating populations, exceeding 90 percent. Meanwhile, Haryana recorded the lowest proportion of fish consumers at 20.55 percent. Fish consumption in India has witnessed a remarkable surge, outpacing global population growth rates, noted the survey conducted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The timeframe for this study was 2005-2006 to 2019-2021.
The surge has been attributed to rising incomes, increased awareness of its health benefits, and the expanding urban footprint. Kerala and Goa led in daily fish consumption at 53.5 percent and 36.2 percent, respectively, while Assam and Tripura topped in weekly consumption at 69 percent. The overall fish-eating population in India increased by 6.1 percent, reaching 72.1 percent. At the same time, egg consumption saw a rise of 7.35 percentage points followed by fish at 6.1 percentage points.
Men exhibited a higher fish consumption rate (78.6%) compared to women (65.6%), with urban areas showing a higher proportion of weekly consumption. The report also highlighted the rapid increase in fish consumption in rural areas, narrowing the urban-rural gap.
India's annual per capita fish consumption increased to 8.89 kg in 2021 from 4.9 kg in 2005, according to the study. During the same period, the country's fish production jumped twofold to 14.164 million tonnes, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.63 percent. The report projects a continued rise in annual per capita fish consumption, expected to reach 19.8 kg in 2029-2030, 31.7 kg in 2039-2040, and 41.29 kg in 2047-2048, at the current growth rate of 4.05 percent annually.
