PANAJI:
Officials of the Agriculture department will soon be fanning out to farmer clusters across the State in a bid to motivate them to shun chemical fertilizers and go organic by pushing a Centrally-sponsored scheme which offers direct cash benefits of up to Rs 31,000 per hectare over three years.
Zonal agriculture officers (ZAOs) across the State have been issued instructions to reach out to the farmers and explain the scheme which is part of a nationwide scheme to achieve the long-term goal of improving soil health affected by extensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides over decades.
Benefits for farmers who opt for the scheme include Rs 12,000 per hectare in the first year, an additional Rs 10,000 in the second year and Rs 9,000 in the third year. The incentive is meant to shoulder the cost of non-chemical pesticides and bio-fertilizers.
According to director of Agriculture, Sandeep Fol Desai, last year cash-incentives directly paid into the bank accounts of farmers going organic under the scheme amounted to approximately Rs 3 crore.
Meanwhile, farmers in Goa are still engaged in harvesting activities of their kharif paddy crop and officials are readying themselves to assist farmer clusters in sowing the rabi crop.
Fol Desai said only those farmers with land holdings in catchment areas of irrigation dams where water reaches naturally through canals will sow paddy again for the rabi season.
"Others who have fields with soil retaining residual moisture opt for other crops like 'alsano' and other pulses or vegetables and chillies." Fol Desai said.
Last year (2023-24), a total of 3,885 hectares were cultivated with pulses during the rabi and summer seasons combined with an average yield of a little under one tonne per hectare.
Agriculture department data said, Goa clocked a gross production of 3,883 tonnes of pulses in the Rabi season last year.
Additionally, groundnut had a coverage of approximately 54 hectares in the rabi season with total production pegged at 84 tonnes and vegetables were grown on another 5,585 hectares and a net vegetable produce of 81,574 tonnes.
