Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant today announced the roadmap to make Goa Self-sufficient in the Agriculture and allied sectors. Dr Sawant said that State government departments will work in coordination with the ICAR-CCARI and other central government institutions. The Chief Minister was speaking at a press conference held today at ICAR-CCARI, Old Goa. Deputy Chief Minister and Agriculture Minister Chandrakant Kavalekar, ICAR-CCARI Director Dr Eknath Chakurkar were also present on this occasion.

Chief Minister conducted a series of meetings with ICAR-CCARI and officials of State Government to prepare a roadmap for execution of strategies for improving production, productivity, value chain, mechanisation in agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries sector of Goa State. The proposed action plan for Goa state includes mainly productivity improvement in major crops like paddy, cashew and coconut, diversification in agriculture, creation of integrated farming system models, mechanisation, value addition and policy reforms in the agriculture sector.

The objective of these meetings is to make Goa self-sufficient, create a brand of ‘Goa’ on the global platform. By implementing all Central Government schemes, the Government will achieve the target of doubling the farmer’s income by 2022, he said.

To create a ‘Goan Brand’ of local products, the government has planned to set up clusters of Organic Farming and start 12 Farmer Producer Organizations state-wide, informed the Chief Minister. Micro Irrigation Scheme will be developed under PM-Kisan Yojana. ‘Integrated Farming’ will double the income of farmers. This will attract more youth towards agriculture and allied sectors, said Dr Pramod Sawant.

The first state level coordination committee meeting for doubling the farmer’s income by 2022 was conducted on March 23, 2017 at ICAR-CCARI, Goa. It is estimated in the 70the round of NSSO that the average income of farmers in Goa is Rs. 91,098 of which Rs. 16,893 is through farming, 15,097 is through is dairying, Rs. 12,243 through non-farm activities and 46,865 through wage labour and salary.

Source: PIB