MARGAO
With another agricultural season underway, and farmers in the sowing operation, beleaguered farmers have made a fervent plea to the government and the Agriculture Department to release the minimum support price (MSP) due for the last two years.
The farmers dished out statistics to show that around 3,640 farmers from South Goa are awaiting the disbursement of the minimum support price amounting to Rs 1.20 crore to date.
Rallying under the banner of Maina Paddy Cultivators, Curtorim, the farmers demanded to know if the government expects them to bring the fallow land under cultivation when the promised paddy support price is not released.
Farmer Simon Barretto informed that the Maina farmers had knocked on the doors of the Agriculture Department for release of the minimum support price, but in vain.
“How are the farmers supposed to cultivate the fields when the support price of the previous year is still not released?” he wondered.
Simon said the availability of paddy seeds is another issue plaguing the farmers. “When we go to the Agriculture department, they say the seeds have not come. The seeds should be made available on time,” he said.
Saying that the farmers from Maina avail of the mechanised tractors facility provided by MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco and Moreno Rebello, Simon said they too have not been getting the subsidy on time.
Addressing the media as a farmer, Moreno Rebello said the government do not stop propagating agriculture, but the ground reality seemed different.
“The delay in disbursing subsidy is disturbing and discouraging. Given that the government has come out with a new law on agricultural land, we wonder whether someone has set their eyes on the agricultural fields to convert them for non-agricultural purposes,” he said.
Saying the government should have released the subsidy in April last, Moreno said the department is attributing the delay to the decision to start a new portal wherein the subsidy will be paid directly in the bank of the 5,000 farmers.
“The exercise of feeding the data of the farmers will take at least 2-3 months and will cause further delay in disbursing the subsidy,” he added.
