PANAJI
Discussion in the Goa legislative assembly on the demands for grants pertaining to the Agriculture Department on Friday focussed on the need for the disbursement of the various subsidies to agriculturists and farmers to be timely.
Several legislators who participated in the discussion raised the issue of farmers having to first bear the costs and get back their money after long delays in the process of sanction and disbursal by the Agriculture Department.
Congress MLAs - Carlos Alvares Ferreira, Delilah Lobo, Kedar Naik, Rudolf Fernades, Aleixo Sequeira, Altone D'Costa, Yuri Alemao, Rajesh Phaldesai and Sankalp Amonkar participated in the discussion and stressed on the need to encourage locals to return to the agricultural field.
Other Opposition MLAs, including AAP's Venzy Viegas and Cruz Silva besides Vijai Sardesai and RGP's Viresh Boerkar, also joined in to demand from the government that agriculture officials walk the extra mile to assist farmers and youngsters getting into the fields.
Some pointed issues that were raised included the need for increased mechanisation of farming operations, better scientific backup on matters related to the choice of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, support for community farming and better coordination in making mechanised transplanters and harvester machines available through the authorised service providers.
Many also suggested that the department explore the possibility of disbursing subsidies soon after sanction instead of asking beneficiaries to make payments and then collect the subsidy as 'reimbursements'.
They argued that in cases of fencing the fields, costs sometimes shoot up into lakhs of rupees depending on the size of their land holding and many cannot manage to arrange the funds.
Independent legislator Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco urged the government to revise the minimum support price (MSP) offered by the department to farmers for paddy.
He said, the prices were fixed several years ago and need to be upwardly revised due to rising costs and to make paddy farming economical.
The lawmakers also made a case for increased procurement of vegetable produce from local farmers through the Goa Horticulture Corporation to encourage the activity and lower the dependence on neighbouring States for supply.
Silva citing figures furnished in an assembly reply said less than five per cent of vegetables procured by the Horticulture Corporation was sourced from local growers while the rest was bought from neighbouring states. He said this ratio has to be bettered by miles.
Vasco MLA Krishna Salkar said more and more people have gotten into vegetable cultivation following the pandemic and there was a need for the government to support this trend.
Cumbarjua MLA Rajesh Faldesai also called for expeditious disbursal of subsidies under various schemes of the agriculture department, saying even a little urgency will go a long way in helping the farmer not just in his constituency but across the State.
“The agriculture department has around 50-60 schemes right from sowing to harvesting. But the subsidy that is given does not come on time. It will make a big difference to the farmers if the subsidy is disbursed on time. In my constituency, a majority of people are farmers who depend on this money and even a little timely disbursal will go a long way in helping them,” Faldesai said.
Faldesai also raised the issue of broken bundhs in his constituency pointing specifically to the Dauji tenants association which has sought government help in repairing the bundhs.
“The paperwork is complete and only the tendering is left. I would request the government to expeditiously complete the work,” he said.
Faldesai also sought that the government provide more saplings to the MLAs to distribute in their constituencies.
“Last time you gave us 1,000 saplings which weren’t enough, especially for my constituency and I had to buy more saplings to distribute among the panchas and sarpanchas,” he stated.
