Lockdown will affect paddy harvesting in Goa: minister

Goa Agriculture Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar said on Friday that the ongoing lockdown on account of coronavirus will hamper the harvesting of paddy in the state.

Rice crop is ready for harvesting in some places, he said at a meeting of state agriculture ministers through video conference. "But we cannot deploy combined harvesters as per requirement, because the operators trained to run these machines are from neighbouring states, and bringing them back is an issue because of lockdown," he said.

The meeting was chaired by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar. It had been convened to discuss the impact of lockdown on agriculture and farmers in the country. Kavlekar said the lockdown will affect farmers greatly, but in view of the gravity of the pandemic, relaxing the restrictions on movement could not be an option.

"So the central government must be ready to compensate farmers on case-to-case basis," the minister added. Floriculture in Goa too was under threat, he said. "Flowers like gerbera which locals grow in polyhouses were mostly sent to other states and exported, which is not possible now," Kavlekar said.

"I have issued directions to the state agriculture department to conduct a preliminary assessment of losses," he added.

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