Goa: Agriculture department sees spike in demand for seeds as farming gathers steam

PANAJI: Copious rainfall and a 50% subsidy on the purchase of seeds have given farmers much to cheer about as agriculture picks up pace in the state.
The agriculture department, which has been selling paddy seeds to farmers through it various zonal agricultural offices, has managed to distribute 530 tonnes of seeds so far. Deputy director Chintamani Perni said this was a 25% increase in sale when compared to last year.
The department has also witnessed a manifold increase in the demand for vegetable seeds, which are being sold at 50% subsidised rates. As a result, one tonne of such seeds have been sold this year as opposed to just 300kg distributed during the last kharif season. These seeds are of monsoon vegetables such as cucumber, lady’s finger, bitter gourd, ridge gourd, pumpkin and red amaranth, among others.
Small packets of seeds weighing anywhere between 10-25g each are being distributed in this process. Interestingly, besides farmers, there is a rising demand among kitchen gardeners for vegetable seeds. This is especially because they can be purchased without a krishi card or land documents.
“However, in case of big quantity purchases, we carry out checks to verify whether the farmers really have that kind of area to grow those crops,” Perni said.
Horticultural crops are also being distributed at various farms to ensure that farmers make most of the abundant rain Goa has been receiving this month. These are saplings and grafts of crops like mango, coconut, cashew, chickoo, guava, lime and arecanut.
So far, 90,000 saplings, seedlings and grafts have been distributed among farmers across the state.
Sources said saplings are usually distributed after Vanamahotsava in July. However, anticipating that gatherings may have to be suspended owing to social distancing norms this year, the crops were distributed from April onwards.
The annual distribution of plants for homestead gardens to each MLA in July has also been advanced. From the third week of June, 2,000 horticulture plants were handed to each MLA unlike the usual 1,000 plants every year. The individual MLAs are to distribute these among the farmers in their constituency. So far, Priol, Shiroda and Taleigao constituencies have started distributing the plants, officials said.