WEDNESDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER 2026
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Grow local, eat fresh: Rabi season can spur Goa to self-sufficiency

After the monsoons, unseasonal rains pounded the State, which has left a surplus water supply in fields and it is the right time to irrigate and sow seeds in the Rabi farming season. What you sow, you reap. Paddy and cash crops could be grown all over with an abundance of fertile soil available and bountiful rains, ideally suited for paddy cultivation. 

Large patches of good fields lie fallow, and some people are enterprising to make a concerted attempt to cultivate and reap the fruits of their labour. A good encouraging outreach is given by the government by providing seeds, machinery, fertilisers, and a reasonable amount of subsidy. Those who are enterprising will grab and move ahead with the abundant help bestowed. A variety of modern machinery for irrigation and reaping is available in the market, and relevant subsidies are made available for all those entrepreneurs who have the heart to take them. Loans are readily sanctioned through government-sponsored schemes at minimal costs of administrative fees, interests, registration, and allied expenditures at nominal and attractive rates. Manual labour is readily available at cost-effective rates for hardworking folks who survey and appoint the desired manpower. 

A variety of vegetables could be simultaneously grown and harvested on fallow lands. Spinach, okra, radish, pumpkin, brinjals, papayas, gourds, chillies, tomatoes, beans, etc., and the like should be encouraged to be grown for local consumption and even exported when in abundance. 

In this way, we can substantially cut our dependence on fruits and vegetables being imported from across the borders and abroad. Transportation at higher costs could reflect and bring down costs of fruits and vegetables grown locally and not brought from across borders. When there is an abundance of greenery, cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs farming could substantially yield and defray the costs of living in the food chain. Dairy industries like the production of milk, cheese, and butter can propel growth in profits and incomes to bring extensive relief in family budgets and help the fiscal deficits. 

We have to resort to mechanised farming in the absence of hard-to-get manual labour during the time of irrigation and harvesting. Tractors are made available on a demand and supply basis from ready-to-hire designated outlets at numerous locations. 

Frogs, sweet water fish population would substantially increase in cultivated fields to keep a check and rid the crop of harmful bugs, larvae, and other parasitic insects, avoiding the use and dependence on dangerous chemicals and pesticides for their total annihilation and eradication of these parasites. 

These crops, vegetables, dairy, and allied productions will spur economic growth and propel a higher GDP. Secured grain storage outlets are important to avoid losses by robberies and decompositions of grains from parasites, worms, etc. Agriculture accounts for a sizeable 30% of the national GDP, which should be nurtured and developed further. Research and development of hybrid seeds and cash crops developed in greenhouse enclosures should be encouraged in entirety.

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Swachh Survekshan slip: Garbage woes compound Goa's problems

A F NAZARETH, Alto Porvorim
Published Jan 13, 2024, 11:57 PM IST
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The results of the 2023 'Swachh Survekshan' cleanliness survey, undertaken by the Central government, have placed Goa in 13th position, down from its previous ranking of 10th position (TGE, January 12). Next year may be even worse for Goa, judging by the poor hygiene prevailing all over the State. Almost every week, newspapers highlight photographs showing garbage being dumped indiscriminately along roadsides, on a well-organised scale, by trucks and private…

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