The ban on iron ore mining has made the picture rather grim for exports out of Goa. As per the data available from Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, iron ore exports constituted around two-thirds of total exports out of Goa in FY 2012-13. Apart from iron ore, marine products, cashew and pharmaceutical products are other major contributors to exports from Goa.
"We do not see great improvement in productivity of marine products," said Shamila Monteiro, director of fisheries. "But we are focusing on improving quality. We started open sea cage culture in FY 2013-14 wherein we are breeding high quality fish varieties like cobi." The small size of Goa's shrimp farms makes it difficult to improve production like other, bigger states.
Similarly, there are anomalies in other sectors too which need to be taken care of to boost exports. "Purchasers of raw cashew nut have to pay 1% market cess," said A S Kamath, advisor to Goa cashew manufacturers association. "They have to pay this cess in Goa even when they are purchasing raw cashew nuts from other states." Others expect state help. "The government can provide financial assistance for modernization and automation to help cashew manufacturers", said Siddhartha Zantye, partner at Zantye Cashew Industries.
There are certain logistical bottlenecks which make movement of goods extremely expensive from Goa. "We have made representations so that Konkan Railway starts a container train from Goa to Nhava Sheva port," said Atul Pai Kane, chairman, Goa State Council, CII.
Pai Kane also said that there is a requirement of a shipping line carrying cargo between Goa and Mumbai. At present, the cargo from Goa takes the route through Mangalore and Cochin and finally reaches Colombo from where it is shipped to its intended designation. This makes the process very complicated and expensive. This needs to be sorted out as soon as possible to facilitate movement of goods out of Goa to other countries.
In the meanwhile, the state government and the central government have joined forces to encourage polyhouse farming in Goa. Under polyhouse cultivation, the focus would be on growing high value crops like color capsicum, gerbera, anthurium and other flowers. The state government and the central government, put together, are providing 90% financial assistance for cultivation. Polyhouse farming is still in initial stages in Goa. If encouraged, it has the potential to increase the exports of crops from Goa.
Architect Rahul Deshpande has interesting ideas to promote industry in Goa, which in turn will boost exports. He cited the example of Taiwan, which has become an animation hub for entertainment industry across the world. "In the regional plan that we had worked upon, we had allocated land for an animation hub in Goa. Local panchayats in Fonda area had even approved the allocation of land".
He insisted that such industries will help in providing opportunities to educated youth of the state who often have to move out of Goa and head to other parts of the world.
Source:- timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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