PANAJI: The Agriculture Minister, Mr Vishwajit Rane on Thursday said that hiked allocation of more than Rs 51 crore, from Rs 27 odd crore in the previous financial year,

for the agriculture sector along with funds to the tune of nearly Rs 12 crore from the Centre would help the agriculture department to work out schemes to make the farming sustainable and increase the profitability of the farmers.
Addressing a gathering at a function to give away prizes to the farmers from all over the state for excelling in increasing agricultural produce, Mr Rane admitted that there has been a fall in agricultural cultivation as neither new area was brought under cultivation nor there has been entry of new farmers in the sector. He also said that youth were not ready to take up agriculture as a career or activity.
He said that mechanisation together with various lucrative schemes could go a long way in increasing agricultural produce and that it was necessary to engage self help groups in the sector with the help of experts. “Today we do not have dedicated people who would like to engage in agricultural activity,” he said adding that this has made agriculture a difficult profession to adopt.
Stating that there were many schemes of the central government which could be availed by the state government for promotion of agriculture, he said that many of the schemes were attached with conditions that state should hike budgetary allocations to the agricultural sector. The allocation to the agriculture sector in the previous years has been around 2.8 per cent, he added.
He said that it was in this context that the government hiked the allocation to the agricultural sector from Rs 27 odd crore to over Rs 51 crore (over 4 per cent of the total state budget to meet the central requirement) and in turn got nearly 12 crore from the Centre for promotion of agriculture.
As regards to the promotion of contract farming, he said that contract farming has to be promoted with the cooperation of the co-operation department and the both the departments have to sit together and frame rules for the implementation of contract farming in the state. He also said that a meeting in that regard would be held on Friday.
Announcing that he would give more attention to the agriculture sector henceforth, Mr Rane went on to add that he has already taken various measures in that direction and that the Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat, was supportive of his initiatives. He said that agriculture was being undertaken mainly in rural areas. He also said that mechanisation of farming would be go a long way in promotion of agriculture.
The Agriculture Minister further said that the Goa State Horticulture Development Corporation could play a major role in the promotion of agriculture by creating linkage between farmers and market, which would help farmers sell their products for a better price. He also said that Ela farm would be converted into model farm for promotion of agriculture and training farmers. He further said tat soil mapping would be undertaken to give a boost to agriculture in the state.