Team Herald
PANJIM: Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai on Wednesday said the State government has decided to promote local germplasm through Agriculture Department during its seed distribution drive to farmers so that it can be preserved through the greening imitative.
“We should also conserve local varieties of fruits and trees. Goa has a variety of fruits like Mancurad mangoes which need to be protected and spread across the State through plantation drives. The seeds of plants bearing adama and jamla along with guavas are also distributed to the farmers by Agriculture Department,” Sardesai said.
He added, “All these seeds are being distributed so the greenery in the State is increased and Goa’s germplasm is spread further. Agriculture Department has also decided to take up plantations on the hills owned by comunidades.”
He further said that the department has decided to plant such trees on comunidade lands which will be maintained by the department. By doing this the comunidade or local farmers will benefit from the profits by selling the fruits.
“Agriculture Department will not make money. Our intention is to create greenery. We are going to take up a pilot project in Fatorda constituency of planting cashew trees on comunidade land. It includes Agriculture Department doing intensive cultivation on the hillock or lands where there are no trees. We will do the planting as well as maintenance,” he added.
