Margao: Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai said Goa government will set up Centre of Excellence for the Organic farming in the State to encourage the farmers to give away fertilizers and go for the traditional methods.
Sardesai said that the State government has already floated Expression of Interest (EIO) inviting international companies to bid for the project.
“The Centre of Excellence is being created so that the people will see and believe the plus points of organic farming,” Sardesai said.
He said that the government is wiling to tie up with the Israeli company to set up the centre.
The minister said after Sikkim, Goa wants to be the second state with cent per cent organic farming.
“Making the entire state have farming organic is not an overnight job. I had met agriculture minister of Sikkim and he told me that it took 8-10 years only after which the state became organic,” Sardesai said.
“Going organic is a way forward for the farming in the State. I want Goa to be the second state. The roadmap is being worked out. We cannot decide the time line. We will encourage organic cluster. I can’t say about the timeline because it is entire dependent on the farmers,” he said.
“There is a government sponsored scheme called paramparagat krishi vikas yojna (PKVY) in which many of the traditional methods have been accepted, this in a way to make Goa organic,” he said.
The minister said that the State government will intervene and get central government funded clusters allotted to the farmers which will enable them to different subsidies.
“Wherever farmers are showing interest, I will get farmers’ cluster allotted to them and then will give them benefits like input costs and others,” Sardesai said.
He pointed out that India contributes for 30 per cent of the organic farming of the world but it amounts to only 2.59 per cent of the total organic production globally.
Sardesai said that there are no specific figures about organic farming in the State. “There are very few who opt for the traditional methods of farming. We will stop giving fertilizers and encourage them to take organic farming. The farmer should come forward,” he said.
