State reaping plentiful harvest

NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Aided by good monsoon and better productivity, paddy yield in Goa during the kharif season is anticipated to have received a boost. First estimates are that production is going to be higher by about 10 per cent in the 2016-17 kharif season.
Agriculture director Ulhas Pai Kakode said the crop is still being harvested but initial reports from Bardez, Salcete and Tiswadi suggest that production will be more than 1,17333 tonne recorded in 2015-16. The three talukas are considered as ‘rice bowl’ for the kharif season.
Good monsoon at the beginning of the season coupled with sowing of better quality seeds are the reasons attributed by the agriculture department for the expected increase in production. Farmers have demonstrated improved methods of cultivation, Kakode said.
Heavy showers in early October have not damaged the yield and harvesting is in full swing, he said.
The agriculture department has provided more than 60 harvesting machines to farmers and excluding some low-lying and waterlogged areas, harvesting is on track.
Farmers in Bardez and Quepem talukas complained of caseworm outbreak affecting the paddy crop adversely; but “the outbreak did not cause much of damage to the kharif crop,” said Kakode.
Goa’s kharif season mainly comprises cultivation of paddy while pulses and sugarcane are grown in modest quantities. The season contributes to over 65 per cent of the annual paddy output.
In 2015-16, the total paddy output was 1,72602 tonne of which 1,17,733 tonne was in the kharif months.
Other major rice producing talukas are Pernem, Canacona, Quepem and Ponda.
The SRI (system of rice intensification) method of cultivation has made headway only among a few farmers and traditional varieties like Jaya and Jyoti continue to remain the mainstay of paddy output in the state.
Kakode said that most farmers have taken to machines for harvesting except for farmers in Canacona who prefer the traditional method.
The agriculture department also expects yield of sugarcane and other horticulture crops to be good.
Total seasonal rainfall this year is 116.45 inches which is just one per cent less than normal 117 inches of rain. The rainfall was at apt periods of sowing and cultivating and it is beneficial to the yield, according to agriculture officers.
Arrangements are being made for new rabi (winter) season.
Kakode said that in some talukas where harvesting is over farmers are preparing the land to raise winter crop. He said that the department will distribute paddy, pulses, vegetable seeds ahead of the winter season.