PANAJI
In order to give a major boost to the agriculture sector, the State government on Friday announced its plan to revise and enhance assured support price for horticultural produce and to also introduce a subsidy for manual paddy transplantation.
As House witnessed a healthy debate over agriculture scenario in the State, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant stated that the Department of Agriculture and Goa State Horticulture Corporation will be directed to submit a proposal to the Finance Department for revising the assured support price for various produce, admitting that it has not been updated in a long time.
In line with encouraging traditional farming practices, the government is also considering providing subsidies for manual paddy transplantation. “We already offer support for mechanized harvesting, but the New Agriculture Policy allows support for manual methods too,” Sawant said, adding that guidelines for the same will be framed soon. He also indicated that using MNREGA workers for paddy cultivation is under review.
BJP MLA Kedar Naik had raised the question seeking subsidy for manual paddy cultivation stating that in Saligao village, there are areas where mechanized farming is not feasible.
Also, Independent MLA Alexio Reginaldo Lourenco brought to the notice of the House that the assured support price to horticulture produce has not been revised for a long time and that in order to attract youth towards agriculture, it is important that the government make it profitable.
Responding to the query raised by BJP MLA Nilesh Cabral that the area under agriculture has remained intact over the years, Sawant said that there is paucity of land for further expansion of the sector. “Hence we need to protect and conserve the existing agricultural land,” he said, adding that more and more farmers are slowly turning towards horticulture production being cash crop.
Agriculture Minister Ravi Naik, meanwhile, reiterated the government’s commitment to incentivising productivity. He has announced a performance-based reward system for zonal officers, offering cash prizes of Rs 1 lakh, Rs 50,000, and Rs 25,000 to officers who increase the area under cultivation and production in their zones.
Naik also said the government is considering revising the support price for coconuts from the current Rs 15 per nut to Rs 30 per nut following demands by MLA Jit Arolkar.
In another major development, Sawant said Goa is in the final stage of obtaining a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for the state’s prized Mancurad mango. To boost cultivation, the government currently provides a subsidy of Rs 2 lakh per hectare for hard rock land and Rs 60,000 per hectare for normal land.
To nurture the next generation of agri-entrepreneurs, the government has introduced agriculture as a subject at the secondary school level, with mandatory field visits. It is also promoting agri-clinics, offering loans up to Rs 20 lakh for agriculture graduates to set up advisory and service units to support farmers, Sawant said.
