Panaji: The Indian Council of Agricultural Research–Krishi Vigyan Kendra (ICAR-KVK), North Goa, highlighted the importance of water conservation and strategies on Friday to mitigate moisture stress in rabi crops during the post-rainy season while addressing farmers at Guirim, Bardez.The experts stressed the need to adopt short-duration and climate-resilient crop varieties for better crop establishment and productivity.“Farmers should adopt suitable intercropping systems for efficient utilisation of available soil moisture, improved resource-use efficiency and enhancement of soil fertility,” said N Bommayasamy, senior scientist and head, ICAR–KVK, North Goa.He highlighted seed hardening and seed priming to improve germination, early crop establishment and tolerance to moisture stress. He also elaborated on in-situ moisture conservation, alternate-furrow irrigation, critical crop growth stages for irrigation, mulching and improved crop production practices for pulses, oilseeds and short-duration vegetable crops.TOI had reported that Goa faces a rising water supply deficit and lower-than-usual reservoir levels after a 32% monsoon rainfall deficit and a 60% post-monsoon shortfall.Shripad Bhat, senior scientist (agricultural economics), ICAR–CCARI, highlighted the importance of Kulagar-based plantation and intercropping systems for sustainable agricultural production. “The integration of cowpea and other suitable intercrops in plantation systems, along with organic spice production, can improve resource utilisation, soil health and ecological sustainability,” said Bhat.This initiative was a collaboration with the Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA), North Goa, and the directorate of agriculture under the Khet Bachao Abhiyan. The programme brought together agricultural scientists, extension officials and farmers to deliberate on location-specific strategies to improve the productivity, resource-use efficiency and resilience of rabi crops under moisture-stress conditions.At Cotigao, the ICAR-CCARI held a field demonstration of the drought-tolerant rice variety Sahbhagi Dhan. Sahbhagi Dhan is suitable for cultivation in Morod conditions, especially in areas experiencing moisture stress and inadequate rainfall. The variety offers farmers a suitable option for sustaining rice cultivation under rainfed upland conditions.
