Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji

Panaji, Aug 18: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the agriculture department will soon launch the ‘Goa Fresh’ and ‘Goa Organic’ initiatives, with QR codes on vegetables and other local produce allowing consumers to trace their purchase from farm to market.

The QR codes will provide details such as the farmer who cultivated the produce and the location where the crop was grown, Sawant said.

He said consumers buying vegetables from Belagavi often have no information about their source or the fertilisers used during cultivation. Promoting local and organic produce, he added, could help reduce the incidence of diseases in Goa over time.

Sawant was speaking while distributing seedlings to farmers under the Indo-Israel Agriculture Centre initiative at Codar in Ponda, where a farm was established a year ago.

The Chief Minister said the government has invested Rs 12 crore in the Indo-Israel Centre of Excellence at Codar to provide farmers across the state with quality planting material, modern technology and technical support.

The collaboration also includes experiments focused on water conservation and other modern farming practices. Sawant said the centre aims to ensure the availability of quality seedlings locally, as seedlings currently purchased from nurseries often originate outside Goa and could introduce plant diseases.

“We often try to find out the causes of our sicknesses only after we take ill. But if we do the work before we eat, diseases will not affect us in the first place. People should start eating quality produce,” the Chief Minister said.

Sawant urges consumers to support local farmers

Sawant urged people in Goa to consume quality produce, grow vegetables in their own villages or purchase directly from local farmers.

He also appealed to consumers not to bargain with farmers, drawing a comparison with fixed prices at shopping malls.

“None asks about the quality of the food produce we are buying and the effort that has gone behind it,” he said.

The Chief Minister also said the state is distributing 12 lakh marigold saplings and expressed confidence that Goan farmers could collectively earn around Rs 1 crore during the upcoming festive season if they work systematically over the next two months.

He said zonal agricultural officers have been directed to connect local growers, including flower cultivators, with buyers to reduce dependence on produce brought in from outside the state.

Similar initiatives, Sawant said, are being undertaken to strengthen market linkages for fisherfolk and dairy farmers as well.