Fisheries Minister Launches MIMI Mobile App for Home Delivery of Fresh Fish

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Kerala Fisheries Minister Saji Cheriyan today launched the mobile app of MIMI Fish Store, a retail venture of the State Fisheries Department’ for home delivery of fresh fish and value-added products.

In a first in the country, MIMI Fish gives the consumers complete access to the details of the fish they buy. The consumers can get their fish home-delivered by placing the order through the Mobile App, or purchase directly from the nearest MIMI kiosk.

“Apart from fresh fish, a variety of other fish-based value-added products can also be accessed by consumers with the help of MIMI App”, the Minister said.

The unique feature of this venture is that the consumers can trace all information of the fish they buy such as its origin, details of fishers involved in capture or production and their locations.

The project is implemented by Kerala State Coastal Area Development Corporation (KSCADC) jointly with SaTM (Society for Advanced Technologies &Management) as part of the socio-economic initiative ‘Parivarthanam’. It is supported by the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (ICAR-CIFT).

Marking its launch, the Minister handed over a packet of MIMI products to actress and TV anchor Annie here. R Girija, Director of Fisheries, Sheikh Pareed, MD KSCADC and Roy V Nagendran, Operations Division, Parivarthanam were present on the occasion.

Tapping on the MIMI app available in Google Play Store, consumers can order the fish they want from a variety of choices such as marine fish, river fish, prawns, dried fish, shell fish, fish curry and pickles. The app will be updated daily, featuring the ‘the pick of the day’ with necessary details including the price.

To start with, MIMI Fish will be available in Kollam and Alappuzha district and parts of Pathanamthitta district. The processing centre, chill room and other facilities available in the fish market in Kollam are being utilised by the project.

The fish that MIMI sells will be totally free from adulterating materials and follow the hygienic standards and protocols set by European Union and other advanced countries in processing, preservation and storage.

Fish is immediately chilled upon capture as per the technology developed by CIFT, which matches the European export standards.

Conforming to the socio-economic goals of ‘Parivarthanam’, Fishermen are assured remunerative price for their catch regardless of the time of landing.

A proposal to set up a non-conventional energy centre under the Parivarthanam project is on the cards. This would enable it to popularise the use of cost-saving and pollution -free energy in fisheries sector in the entire country.

Plans to promote use of alternate fuels such as CNG and LPG in fishing vessels are also under consideration, for which research projects would be undertaken in collaboration with competent agencies.

Besides the consumers and fishers, other beneficiaries of this project are the engineering and degree dropouts, who get part time jobs of home delivery of MIMI products, and later, they would be given coaching for the courses they pursue to help them become graduates.

All partner boats of MIMI are given individual RFID-tagged ice boxes, so that the end users get to know the date, time & place of capture of the fish and even the details of the fishermen who caught the fish, guaranteeing 100% traceability.

The DC chillers are used in all the MIMI outlets with battery support, ensuring continuous power back-up even during power failures. The chillers have an option to be connected to solar power, which ensures uninterrupted power supply up to three days if electricity from the KSEB grid is not available. This helps maintain the quality of fish.

Other key features of the venture include installation of motion sensors in all MIMI stores and central storage room to get alerts about the presence of any rodent or insects. Also, CCTVs are installed in shops to see that only MIMI products are being delivered and sold.

The venture also comes as a big support to fishers and other stakeholders as it is part of the Parivarthanam project, launched by the Government of Kerala to address lives and livelihood issues of the fishery sector.