PANAJI
The Goa Budget 2020-21 has various schemes to boost the local farm produce and offer financial assistance to farmers and farm workers. Announcing these schemes and programmes, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant informed the House that the government is trying to bring more land under organic agriculture and also encourage milk production in the State.
Mentioning that after the operations in the mining industry were closed, agriculture has been looked as the prime sector for generating employment, Dr Sawant admitted that it is a challenging task to make agriculture a progressive industry with the help of innovative technology.
“It is the prime priority of the government to bring 10,000 hectare land under organic cultivation in the next three years. We aim to establish an Organic Agriculture University in the State of Goa. Under the Pradhanmantri Kisan Yojana the Goa government has distributed Rs 3.65 crore to 7154 agricultural workers. Goa is the only State in the country that buys the vegetables and sells it to the citizens at a reasonable price. The government has till now purchased 550 metric tonnes of vegetables and paid Rs 2.31 crore for that. Goa State Horticulture Corporation is being given Rs 22 crore as financial aid,” said the CM.
The Goa government plans to set up a food processing industry so that more people are attracted towards agriculture. The local vegetables have a great demand and therefore it is necessary to boost the morality of the local vegetable growers. These vegetables have great immunity building potential and their seeds should be preserved. The government will help the local vegetable growers to buy these seeds and organic fertilizers and also to cultivate the land.
Considering the importance of water in the environment and in human life, the government has announced a 'Western Ghats Development Programme' which will work to conserve the Western Ghats. This step would help in strengthening water conservation. The Khola chilies have been tagged under Geographical Index and this is an important development for the local crop and agricultural produce. On the same verge efforts are being made to bring Mayade bananas, saat shiranche Bhende, the brinjals of Taleigao, Mankurad and Mangilar (Hilario) mangoes under GI-tagging.
The government plans to initiate a 'Shram Samman' scheme to encourage the locals to work in farms and horticulture land. This scheme will offer financial assistance and also life insurance. As the Central government has stressed on increasing the income of the farm related sectors, the State government aims to strengthen the milk industry by increasing the local milk production. As an experiment, at Saal, Cuncoliem and Canacona, will be brought under the 'Dugdhagram Scheme' under which 24 hour assistance will be available from special veterinary officer, 90 per cent subsidy will be given to buy a cow, subsidy to buy machinery and grow green fodder, and to arrange nutritious food for the calves till they are 27 month old. Also, those societies that work on cooperative basis, would be financially helped to increase the milk production.
At Bicholim, a new veterinary hospital will be built. For stray cattle, the subsidy that used to be available through the panchayats will now be given through the Animal Husbandry department to NGOs, stated Dr Sawant.
