MARGAO
On World Food Day, the government has vowed to promote superfoods to boost the immunity of Goemkars to fight the Covid-19 pandemic with local varieties of fruits and vegetables, having nutrient value including vitamin-C, calcium, zinc etc.
That’s not all. The government has made a fervent plea to the local populace to go in on for vegetable cultivation in a big way not only to meet their requirements but to help the state achieve self-sufficiency in vegetables.
At a programme hosted by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, South Goa, to celebrate World Food Day on the theme “Grow, nourish and sustain together’, Agriculture Director Neville Alphonso said the Agriculture department will go in a big way to promote eight fruits and vegetables, beside the CR Dhan rice variety, having high zinc nutrients, which will help boost the immunity of citizens against Covid.
He said superfoods such as alma, maadi, drumstick, jackfruit, kaate kanaga, korgut rice cultivated in khazan lands, nachane and Elephant foot Yam will be promoted in a big way in the state by asking people to go in for production.
The Agriculture Director has further asked the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, South, to try the CR Dhan variety of rice, which has high nutrient value, including zinc, to fight Covid.
Agriculture Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar made a fervent plea to the people of Goa to go for vegetable production to make the state self-sufficient.
“You may say the prices of food and vegetables are high, but people can tide over the situation by going in for vegetable cultivation in their backyard to meet their requirements and sell the surplus to the Horticulture department,” he added.
The minister impressed upon the need to create confidence amongst farmers and people that agriculture is profitable and their efforts can make Goa self-sufficient. “We can stand on our legs provided all of us go back to agriculture and bring the fallow lands under cultivation,” he added.
Expressing satisfaction that more and more fallow land has been brought under cultivation by the people, Kavlekar said the department has provided five times more vegetable seeds to the people this year compared to the previous years.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture Minister has said the assessment of losses suffered by the farmers due to the rains is an ongoing process, adding that the agriculture department has almost cleared the compensation of last year’s losses despite technical issues due to Covid.
“Whatever applications received by the department for compensation are being processed. It is an ongoing process,” he said and informed the preliminary reports have pegged the losses to around Rs 287 crore.
