PANAJI
With vast chunks of land going to to construction activities in agricultural fields and added to that the apathy of farmers towards cultivation, land for paddy cultivation in the State has drastically decreased gradually over the years. In the last three years, area under paddy cultivation has reduced by over 3,822 hectares.
This information was shared by Agriculture Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar in reply to a question raised by MLA Ravi Naik on the floor of the Assembly.
Replying further, the Minister said, in the year 2017-18, area under paddy cultivation was 38,520 hectares while in 2019-20 the area under paddy cultivation shrunk to 34,698 hectares.
However, the area of cultivation of vegetables increased by 318 hectares in the last three years and area under coconut cultivation increased by 373 hectares, the Minister informed the august House.
In the year 2017-18, around 7,534 hectares of land was under vegetable cultivation while in 2019-20 around 7,852 hectares of land was under vegetable cultivation, the minister said while further adding that, in 2017-18, around 26,169 hactares of land was under coconut cultivation and in 2019-20 it increased to 26,542 hectares.
Once upon a time Goa used to be self-sustained in paddy cultivation, however the cultivation area is reducing by the day due to various reasons; construction activity being one of them.
It is surprising that Goa now depends on neighbouring states for its quota of rice.
