Several legislators in the Goa Legislative As sembly on Monday raised concerns over the challeng es farmers across the State face and called for stronger government support to re vive agriculture. Quepem MLA Altone D’Costa urged the govern ment to provide subsidies to cashew farmers culti vating crops on forest land, pointing out that many such farmers cannot obtain Krishi cards and therefore miss out on government benefits. He said that these farmers contribute signif icantly to the state’s econ omy and deserve financial assistance. Fatorda MLA Vijai Sarde sai highlighted that Goa’s fragmented agricultural landholding system has left many farmers without Krishi cards. He suggested creating a dedicated MLA fund for agriculture and called for implementing community and contract farming laws. Sardesai also stressed that community farming, particularly on co munidade lands, could help revive farming activities and strengthen agriculture in the State. Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao criticized the government for failing to adequately support farm ers, especially women farmers. He said agricul ture in Goa is steadily de clining as greater focus is placed on tourism and real estate development rather than farming. Calangute MLA Michael Lobo said achieving the vi sion of Viksit Bharat is pos sible only if young people actively take up agriculture. He stressed the need to ex plore ways to motivate and involve youth in farming activities. Mayem MLA Premen dra Shet raised concerns about crop losses caused by wild animals and urged the government to intro duce a dedicated scheme to address the issue. He not ed that installing fencing and protective compounds is expensive for farmers and called for government support to help safeguard crops. Poriem MLA Deviya Rane drew attention to the need for infrastructure support for small and marginal farmers in Sattari taluka. She highlighted the require ment for fencing, irrigation facilities and agricultural machinery, particularly for women farmers engaged in paddy cultivation, veg etable farming and other agricultural activities, and sought details of the gov ernment’s plans. Responding to the con cerns raised, Chief Minis ter Pramod Sawant urged MLAs to submit proposals for community farming projects in their constitu encies under a cost-sharing model: 70 per cent gov ernment funding and 30 per cent contribution from farmers. He suggested that community farming could be implemented on a pilot basis in Surla and Kudne villages in Sankhali constit uency.
MLAs demand stronger support to revive declining agriculture
