From Directors Desk...
The State of Goa is the smallest state of India but has a high diversity of plants, animals, microorganisms and soils. The State of Goa has different kinds of soils, red (lowland and upland), sandy, coastal saline soil (Khazan), etc. The soils of Goa possess unique characteristics and have variable soil fertility status. These pose severe constraints for crop production and one of the major reasons for this is multinutrient deficiency. The soils and weather prevailing in Goa support diverse crops and vegetation. This makes us to adopt better fertilizer recommendation practices for obtaining high quantity and quality yield of different crops. But, this requires knowledge on soil fertility status of different region. The Institute and Krishi Vigyan Kendra through its regular analysis and externally funded projects have compiled the soil fertility status of different Talukas of Goa. Making use of this, a software package has been prepared to make soil test based fertilizer recommendations for major crops of Goa. The package "Soil Test Based Fertilizer Recommendation, Goa (STFR Goa)" prescribes amount of fertilizer and its cost based on your soil fertility status and target yield. Besides amount of fertilizer it also addresses the issues like when, where and how to apply. The package can give prescription for macro and micronutrients. I hope the farmer of Goa would be benefited from the package to do the agriculture more scientifically. This way we could increase the production of our crops without polluting our natural resources.