Additional support price for paddy, if necessary: Minister

Panaji, Mar 24 (UNI) Goa government would examine offering support price more than the present Rs 1,000 per tonne of paddy to encourage farmers to bring more area under paddy cultivation.

Replying to Harish Zantye (Cong) on the last day of the budget session of the State Legislative Assembly today during question hour, Agriculture Minister Francesco Micky Pacheco said the support price was actually Rs 500 per tonne in the previous year and was doubled for the current fiscal.

Earlier, Mr Zantye expressed his concern over the shinking acreage under paddy for want of encouragement from the Government. ''Goa would one day turn into a concrete jungle like Bangalore with no land for tilling available if the farmer was ignored,'' he said.

The paddy was grown in 52,442 hectares with an average yield of 4,152 kg during 2004-05 in the State.

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