PANJIM: Deputy Chief Minister and State Agriculture Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar announced that the State government has advanced the payment of subsidy to farmers.
This is a deviation from the earlier scenario where the farmers had to pay the required amount first and then claim the subsidy post the payment.
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Under this new structure, most of the subsidies will be paid at source, said Kavlekar.
He also announced that there are now 10 new community farming groups, in addition to the present three. He said that Rs 1.41 crore has been sanctioned for these projects, which is 90 per cent of the funds required for these projects that will help 172 farmers and cover 76.46 hectares of land. These ten new projects are in Sattari (2), Mapusa (1), Canacona (3), Quepem (1), Tiswadi (1), Pernem (1) and Bicholim 1.
Given the small land available to farmers, this method helps the group of farmers not only source funds better but also share resources such as equipment used on their farms. They are hoping that more groups come forward.
Kavlekar also spoke about the department’s plans to promote organic farming through 500 cluster groups that would similarly cover a large amount of land.
He further said their schemes for procurement of various machines are also being modified to a source-based subsidy, which is aimed at addressing problems faced by farmers in raising funds for equipments.
The department added that preliminary reports of damage caused by the cyclone as per the field inspection reports by their staff, is about Rs 3 crore but that farmers are still filing claims so that amount might increase.
The Minister also spoke about how the department is trying to motivate more people to get into farming, especially the youth into farming.
He added that to address issues of the dearth of skilled operators for tractors and harvesters available in Goa, the department has been training locals to carry out such activity.
