PANAJI
Unseasonal rains coupled with higher atmospheric temperatures have left Goa's rural landscape staring at catastrophic horticultural season this year, many in the farm sector have opined.
Yields of cashew and mango, two of the most lucrative cash crops of the summer horticulture season, could plummet to below 20 per cent of average yields, sources in the agriculture department said.
The prospects for the rural economy, which is significantly dependent on the horticulture yields, especially mango and cashew, therefore appears gloomy and could add to the financial distress already experienced by rural households over the last two years due to the pandemic.
Some farmers owning cashew orchards said, the unseasonal rains experienced in December-January were good and yields were promising in this season's first flowering period.
However, the abnormally high temperatures in February and March, badly affected the subsequent crops and the overall scenario is extremely bad.
One such farmer who could face a financially difficult year ahead due to the poor horticulture crop, Nestor Rangel, said his yields so far this season have been just disastrous.
"Last year I got 4,000 kgs (4 tonnes) of cashew nuts and I distilled 2,000 litres of feni. This year I am struggling and have not yet collected one tonne of cashew nuts," Rangel who owns and manages a fairly sized farming operation in Sattari, said.
He fears his net yield may not even touch 20 per cent of the previous year.
Sattari, Pernem and Canacona are the talukas most affected by the unseasonal rains and their impact on the cashew crop.
The agriculture department meanwhile has no existing scheme to provide succour to farmers due to yields being affected by unseasonal weather conditions, according to its Director Neville Afonso. Schemes to compensate farmer losses only cover natural disasters like floods, cyclones, etc., he added.
Nonetheless, the farming community is hoping the government will come up with some mechanism to at least provide minimal support and help them tide over the extremely difficult financial stress staring at them this summer.
