the goan I network
MARGAO
Atal Gram Development Agency’s experiment with strawberry cultivation in Verlem and Tudav areas of Neturlim village has turned out be a success.
The good strawberry harvest brought smiles on the faces of 200 people from 40 households. They sold 84,420 kgs of strawberries, earning an amount of Rs 11.25 lakh.
And, if the agency Project Director, Vijay Saxena, is
to be believed, the farmers had no problem whatsoever with the marketing of
the produce.
Tourists and visitors, who made a beeline to the strawberry farms in Neturlim, turned out to be the prime customers, who purchased the bulk of the production at a premium.
In fact, buoyed by the success, the agency has drawn up plan to motivate more farmers to grow strawberries and also explore the possibility of bringing additional area in Verlem and Tudav under strawberry cultivation.
“We have started the project in an area admeasuring 4500 square metres. With the strawberry cultivation catching up with the locals, we have planned to go in for expansion in the coming season,” Saxena said.
A total of three mahila self-help groups from Neturlim had ventured into strawberry cultivation on an area admeasuring 4500 square metres. “About 30,000 high-yielding strawberry saplings were procured from strawberry farms in Wai, Mahableshwar, and distributed to the SHGs for cultivation.
The agency also imparted hands-on training to the farmers through an accomplished farmer from Panchagani-Maharashtra,” he said, adding that the agency had also provided necessary one-time logistic support such as irrigation facilities, mulching paper, fertilisers and pesticides and hand spray pump for undertaking the cultivation.
On the future plans, the Project Director said the agency will continue with the strawberry cultivation scheme during the current year.
Saxena, however, hastened to add that the assistance will be limited to the procurement, transportation and distribution of strawberry saplings. “Land availability is an issue at Neturlim. But we are motivating farmers to go in for strawberry cultivation this year too,” he added.
Incidentally, Saxena pointed out that the agency is also in the process of formulating a scheme to assist the self-help groups in the jurisdiction of Neturlim village for the cultivation of chilies and other vegetables for which ready market is available.
