TAD NewsDesk, Margao: As an aim of promoting organic farming and going green under the government’sParamparaghat Krishi Vikas Yojana ( PKVY), 900 farmers from Salcete and Mormugao talukas have been grouped into 40 village-level clusters.
Each cluster encompasses 20 ha of agricultural land.
Salcete zonal agriculture officer (ZAO) Shariff Furtado told that
“The aim is to create awareness about cultivating paddy, pulses, vegetables, coconut and other crops in an organic way, without use of pesticides.”
Mr Furtado added that
“Once this organically certified product is packaged scientifically, with grading, labelling and branding, it can fetch better price to the farmers,” he said. This scheme is being undertaken across the state by all zonal agrciculture offices.”
Recently in a farmers mela, the knowledge of different new innovative agricultural techniques and their application has been discussed with the farmers.
In the meal, Swapnil Sukhtankar, soil Chemist from Krishi Vigyan Kendra, South Goa also elucidated on the importance of soil testing which is important to determine the quantum of plant nutrients in the soil, while Satish Patil, assistant professor of soil science and agricultural chemistry spoke on nutrient management of plants.
Moreover, Geeta Velingkar, subject matter specialist of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, spoke about value addition of major and minor fruit crops of Goa while Rajan Shelke, assistant professor of Don Bosco College of Agriculture Sulcorna, Quepem, spoke on the identification of various pests of local crops and their control in an organic manner.
Also, Jovita Sequeira, assistant agriculture officer, spoke on community farming projects of the agriculture department and Seby Antao, extension officer, spoke on schemes of the veterinary department. Shivram Goankar, deputy project director of Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) spoke on integrated nutrient management in paddy and important plantation crops of Goa.
Organic farming and green techniques are becoming popular every day and are increasingly being considered a remedy for a lot of agricultural problems. It is important to continue with the dialogue and help in establishing a problem free green world.
Source: The Times of India
