WHILE agriculture is dying in the state, the Goa State Horticulture Corporation’s procurement scheme for locally grown vegetables provides a ray of hope. Goa is the only state where there is a government procurement scheme for vegetables.

The scheme works more or less on the idea of minimum support price the Government of India has for procuring foodgrains from farmers. The GSHC has procurement outlets at various places that double up as retail outlets where consumers can buy locally grown vegetables at prices lower than the market rates. Bulk of Goa’s vegetable demand has been met for years by imports from Karnataka and Maharashtra, though locally grown vegetables have also been available in markets or from hawkers, usually older rural women, who sell small quantities of them by the roadside. There were some GSHC outlets for vegetables before, but a conscious effort to provide a boost to local vegetable production is of recent origin.

GSHC now sources vegetables such as brinjal, lady’s fingers, cucumber and gourds at procurement-cum-retail outlets in Sattari, Canacona, Tiswadi and Quepem. Although farmers are an endangered class, there are quite a few who have the land, interest and zeal to produce vegetables if they could find a good market for them. The GSHC outlets are trying to provide an assured market for such farmers. The central government has sanctioned about ` 11 crore for rejuvenating agriculture in the state, a significant part of which should be used for promotion of indigenous vegetable production–with funds added by the state government. Perhaps the state agencies alone cannot do it; there is a need for public leaders, such as MLAs and panchas, to involve themselves in motivating and encouraging farmers to produce more vegetables.

There is a good potential not only to increase production of the indigenous varieties but also to grow exotic varieties of vegetables in the state. Some farmers in Goa are already successfully growing exotic vegetables such as broccoli, Chinese cabbage, green capsicum and sweet corn. Agricultural officers, scientists and constructive civil society groups need to persuade and help farmers in different parts of the state to take up growing exotic vegetables on an experimental basis. Exotic vegetables are in demand among the urban middle class Goans and foreign tourists.

The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Vishwajit Rane, who comes from one of the leading farming families of Goa, has taken initiative to ask five-star hotels to buy locally grown vegetables. He could as well ask them to buy the exotic vegetables grown in the state too. Hotels are a market Goan farmers have never been allowed to tap fully. There is very weak backward linkage in the hotels in purchase of supplies from local producers. With government prodding, the hotels can start sourcing indigenous and exotic vegetables from local producers. Local farmers may be able at first to meet their demand only marginally, but once the hotels open up as a good market, we are sure more and more farmers would be willing to take to vegetable farming.

Perhaps, the future of Goan agriculture lies in horticulture, poultry and goat and cattle farming and dairy. Goan farmers need to give up their fixation with rice and discover the pathways that integrate their industry with the Goan economy, an important part of which is the tourist industry. And it would be best if Goan farmers can add that quality to their produce that can go so well with the Goa brand: ‘green’. If their produce is without the use of chemicals, they can be a hit both with the permanent residents of Goa as well as domestic and foreign tourists. There is a growing consciousness among people to eat vegetables and if those vegetables are free from pollution from fertilisers and pesticides, they would be ready to pay higher for that. Green production is not a pipe dream. In Andhra Pradesh and other states, many farmers are already producing foodgrains and vegetables without use of chemicals.

Mr Vishwajit Rane would be rendering an even greater service to Goan agriculture if while promoting indigenous and exotic vegetable production he makes it possible that the farmers are able to do it without use of chemicals. Then Goa’s vegetables can truly be green and sought after by inhabitants and tourists alike.