Goa government to form Farmers' Public Limited Company

PANAJI: To boost agriculture, Goa government has decided to form Farmers' Public Ltd Company that would provide linkage of national markets to the local produce.

State Agriculture department, which is working on a modality to form the company, has initiated the liasoning process with the industry to set up the structure.

"Government is working on to form a Farmers' Public Ltd company. Right now there are various ideas under it, including value addition to seasonal fruits like jackfruit, mangoes and cashew. There is also an idea of producing low calorie sugar from the toddy of high-breed coconuts," state agriculture minister Ramesh Tawadkar, told PTI today.

He said the government will soon constitute a special expert committee in this regard to conduct field visits to various states and study the unique agricultural experiments which can be emulated in Goa.

The BJP-led government after assuming power in the state had aimed for six per cent agricultural growth.

Tawadkar said the government also aims to promote agriculture as an 'industry'.

"All possible steps would be initiated in this regard. Formation of an expert committee would be the first step towards this initiative," the minister said.

He said state like Kerala has done number of researches with seasonal fruit jackfruit promoting it as a health medicinal fruit.

Apprising on steps initiated for promotion of agriculture in Goa, Tawadkar said government has adopted 58 villages under 'Modal Village' concept, wherein special agricultural survey would be undertaken to ascertain the agricultural productivity of the villages.