NIRGOSH GAUDE | NT
Ponda
Becoming a taluka with the highest production of vegetables in the state, Dharbandora is fast emerging as Goa’s vegetable hub.
Dharbandora supplied around 294.67 tonnes of vegetables worth Rs 133.56 lakh to the Goa State Horticulture Corporation Limited (GSHCL) in 2020-21, which was the highest quantity of vegetables supplied to the corporation by the talukas and almost double the quantity supplied that year by Salcete, which was GSHCL’s second highest supplier.
Interestingly, the production of vegetables in Dharbandora increased significantly in 2020-21 compared to the previous year, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the last nine years from 2012-13 to 2020-21, vegetable production in Dharbandora has risen exponentially from a mere two tonnes to a whopping 294 tonnes.
According to Dharbandora zonal agricultural officer (ZAO) Nagesh Komarpant, “As the farmers in the taluka were trapped in their houses due to the pandemic and also with a huge demand for vegetables, many decided to venture into vegetable cultivation thus giving production a major boost. Secondly, prior to the pandemic, more and more people had started focussing on agriculture after the closure of mining activity in the state.”
In the year 2020-21, Dharbandora farmers cultivated around 20 types of vegetables ranging from tomatoes to coriander. Vegetables supplied to the GSHCL in bulk quantities included ladyfinger (66,782 kg), cluster beans (16,721 kg), green chillies (95,050 kg), cucumber (18,295 kg), carrot (1,257 kg), cabbage (91,621 kg), bitter gourd (2,983 kg), ridge gourd (811 kg), long beans (207 kg), ginger (279 kg) and brinjal (241 kg). Other vegetables including tomatoes, ivy gourd, bottle gourd, elephant foot yam, lime and capsicum were supplied in minor quantities, as per information obtained from GSHCL.
With Dharbandora becoming a home of many progressive farmers, it has the state’s highest producer of vegetables Nagesh Samant from Tatodi, who
alone supplied around 198 tonnes of vegetables to GSHCL in 2020-21, fetching him around Rs 62.17 lakh.
Dharbandora ZAO Komarpant said an active role played by the agriculture department and experimental farming technique coupled with a professional attitude of the farmers towards cultivation has given a major boost to vegetables in the taluka since the last couple of years. He also said the actual vegetable production in Dharbandora is much more than what the supplies made to the GSHCL denote, as many of the farmers in the taluka also sell their produce locally.