MARGAO: Farmers are an upset lot after the government issued notification that all sales of farm/poultry products etc can only be done after they were licensed with agriculture department as per the new notification by the office of State Agricultural Marketing Board.
It had issued a notice that commodities such as cereal (paddy and barley), fruits (apple), animal husbandry products (eggs, poultry and fish) and coconut oil and flowers will be regulated.
The notification states that all the traders, commission agents, brokers, processors, weight measurers, surveyors and warehouse men, dealing with the these commodities or operating in other capacity in relation to the marketing are required to obtain licence failing which they may be prosecuted and punished according to the Goa Agricultural Produce Marking and Regulations Act.
Speaking on the issue, Eleuterio Carneiro, vice president of NXE Farming Society, said, “The paddy support price, horticultural produce support price and subsidy have not reached Goan farmers for almost a year now. Some people in the State have domesticated desi hen and sell eggs on a small scale.”
“When there is no support for backyard poultry business from the government why these poor people should be charged,” he asked.
He went on to say, “In the rural parts of the State, most Goan families have around five to 10 coconuts trees in their garden and they sell extracts of coconut by-products. They also grow flowers like rozam, mogrim, zaeo-zueo, xenvtim and sell the produce on different occasions. The government wants these people too to obtain a licence?”
He insisted that the government should make it compulsory for the migrants who trade their wares in Goa markets/by the roadside to have licences.
“I request the Goa State Agricultural Marketing Board which functions under the Goa Agricultural Produce Marketing (Development and Regulations) Act 2007, to purchase and sell fish at a cheaper rate in the Goan markets like the Goa State Horticulture Corporation. Bring all the wholesale fish dealers under your ambit and make some provision in the interest of the Goan small farmers under the said Act by amending the present rules,” he added.
The Navelim farmers’ society also submitted their plea to the local MLA Avertano Furtado, on Tuesday.
