Hon’ble Chief Minister Inaugurates Agri-Drone Demonstration in Community Farming Field and felicitates farmers at Goa

Dr. Pramod Sawant, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Goa, inaugurated ademonstration of foliar nutrition through an agri-drone in a community farming field at Surla, Sankhali, on March 1, 2026. The programme was organised by the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) and the Directorate of Agriculture, Government of Goa. Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister emphasised the importance of community farming in revitalising fallow lands, strengthening food security, and promoting rural economic development through community action. He said that agricultural income is tax-exempt and encouraged farmers to cultivate vegetable crops to secure quicker and higher economic returns.

    On the occasion, the Hon’ble Chief Minister felicitated outstanding beneficiaries of ICAR-CCARI and ICAR-KVK adopted farmers for their contributions to agriculture under the ATMA award 2025-26. He felicitated two district-level awards to Smt. Pobrinha Carvalho, Best Woman Farmer, and Shri Anthony D’Souza, Best Farmer  IFS, each carrying a citation and a cash prize of ₹25,000, were presented and four block-level farmer awards were also presented to Shri Vishwas Kamlakant Chodankar, Best Pulses Farmer (Rabi); Shri Vishwambar Gawas, Best Vegetable Farmer; Shri Vishnu Mahadev Natekar,  Best Paddy and Millet Farmer (Rabi); Shri Ravikant Ramchandra Naik , Best Vegetable Farmer (Rabi), Pernem each carrying cash prize Rs 10000/- and citation. A total of 128 farmers, including farm women, participated in the programme and benefited from the demonstration. The agri-drone demonstration on foliar nutrition was technically coordinated by Dr. N. Bommayasamy, Senior Scientist and Head, and Shri Vishwajeet Prajapati, Technical Officer (Computer), ICAR–KVK, CCARI, North Goa.