quote:
There is a need to try and make all villages in the State bio villages. First do it here at the institute and then take it to the villages. You can make the institute chemical fertilizer free and set an example for people willing to do it too
-- Dr Gurbachan Sing, ASRB chairman
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PANAJI
Grow in Goa the organic way. This the was the call given at the foundation day of ICAR -- Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute, Goa -- by the Chairman of the Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB) Dr Gurbachan Singh stressing the need for the institute to set an example for farmers to take the green way.
“There is a need to try and make all villages in the State bio villages. First do it here at the institute and then take it to the villages. You can make the institute chemical fertilizer free and set an example for people willing to do it too,” he said.
He said that for a place like Goa, the climatic conditions were perfect to be able to generate the required inputs to create organic resources. In areas that receive 2,500 mm of rainfall, it is easy to replace chemical fertilizers with biological ones, he said.
He also pointed to integrated farming and protected cultivation as a means of achieving this as well to generate a steady source of income. “The integrated farming system which is the way forward gives weekly or fortnightly income to the farmers. This should be the first principle when planning integrated system. A regular source of income and the second point is generating all materials at source so cost of cultivation is almost zero and making the farmer stand on his own feet,” he said.
People too, today are cautious of what they are consuming making the demand for organic food huge thus calling for introduction of integrated farming.
With the institute, as of last year, extending its mandate to include coastal agriculture have begun to develop technologies for conservation and utilization of biological diversity in coastal region of India. In this regard, Dr Singh said there was need to keep mangroves intact and have trees along the coast.
“Based on visits, myself and my team conducted after the tsunami affected areas, we found that wherever mangroves were intact and where the coast was planted with trees and coconuts, there was much less damage. This is one lesson on how to make it resilient,” he said.
Ingress of salinity from sea to the farm needs to be studied and checked at the sea coast level rather than its downward movement to the fields.
Other suggestions given to the institute and its 92 scientists and working staff was to work towards improving existing varieties of plants and crops and maintain as much a balance with nature as possible.
