MARGAO: Farming activities in post COVID scenario is picking up in Salcete taluka with help of Agriculture Department selling vegetables seeds on 50 per cent subsidy at source.
Setting an example, Constancio D’Silva from Betalbatim, Tania Rebello, Seraulim, and Betalbatim Farmers Club have achieved a new milestone in the agriculture sector.
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A very hard working D’ Silva is undertaking cultivation of seasonal cash crops like Chillies, Brinjal and hybrid watermelon every year.
The Zonal Agriculture Office at Margao has also expressed satisfaction and claimed that this will further boost the farming activities in the Salcete taluka.
“This year in addition to Red Hybrid watermelons of variety Agustahe has cultivated yellow fleshed Hybrid watermelons of variety yellow buttercup and the yield has been very encouraging”, informed Shariff Furtado, Zonal Agricultural Officer, Salcete.
He further said that in addition to the colour difference, red fleshed watermelon contains lycopene, an antioxidant that makes fruits and vegetables red and pink.
“Yellow lacks Lycopene which is responsible for the red colour.
Both Yellow and Red Watermelons are high in vitamin A and C. Other nutritional benefits and health benefits are similar. In addition, both red and yellow melons have the same type of crisp texture, grow with rinds, and can grow with seeds or seedless,” he stated.
The total area covered is around 5000 Square metres which gave D’Silva a good yield of 12 tons. He is one of the few farmers who take personal interest in marketing his own farm produce. He sells his watermelons in the tourist hotspots of the coastal belt of Salcete taluka. Many times he is seen in Varca selling his watermelons.
Zonal Agriculture Office (ZAO), Margao have subsidised his farming activities availing subsidies on installation of Pumpset, Pipeline, Drip Irrigation system and Plastic mulching sheets.
Another such person is Tina Rebello who has ventured into farming in Salcete and Sanguem talukas. She also has benefitted from schemes from the Agriculture Department with offices of Salcete and Sanguem helping her.
In Salcete she has been innovative in cultivating Sun flowers. It is a fact that good quality cooking edible oil can be extracted from sunflower seeds.
The project has gained interest especially due the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The import of edible sunflower oil has been hampered thus pushing the price of edible oil very high.
“The state Agriculture Department has proposed to identify and experiment if this sunflower crop can come up well in Goa and this farmer Tina Rebello from Seraulim has proved it beyond any doubt that sunflower plants can be grown even under Goan conditions,” said ZAO.
He said the biggest challenge would be to identify mills for crushing the seeds and extracting the oil. Plans are afoot to approach ICAR CARI Old Goa research Institute for standardising production and postharvest technology in Sunflower which can be an alternative crop to Goan farmers to boost their income.
Tina, having farming activities in Seraulim, has been cultivating Lady Finger and Brinjal also. The land has irrigation facilities which help her sustain her production easily in the summer season.
Joe Cotta, President of Betalbatim farmers club along with Secretary Malcolm Afonso and Executive Member Jose Pereira has been instrumental to provide great impetus for farming activities of Betalbatim.
Here crops are cultivated for all three seasons of Kharif, Rabi and summer. Recently they have cultivated Turmeric which gave them a bumper harvest.
As informed, the Turmeric rhizomes were supplied by Zonal Agriculture Office margao under ATMA scheme of demonstrations and 100 percent of costs were reimbursed back to the Club.
The members have been advised to dry the rhizomes after harvesting and clean the soil impurities from the rhizomes. After cleaning it has to be washed and dried again and then powdered.
There is a powder making unit facility existing at Sao Jose de areal which powders even chillies and extracts coconut oil from dried copra, said ZAO.
