Goa, known for its natural beauty, is home to several tribal communities in its forests.
These indigenous groups often face socio-economic challenges and struggle with limited access to various resources. However, the rich natural ecosystem and abundance of flowers containing high nectar content, conducive land, and fodder offer a tremendous opportunity for apiculture as well as community dairy farming. Despite this potential, the area remains largely untapped. Implementing a honey project and community dairy farming in this region holds promise for capacity building, economic empowerment, and eco-tourism. The Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) Agri Committee team led by Orlando Rodrigues and Dr Sangam Kurade have been working on this.
This concept was mooted by Ramesh Tawadkar, Speaker, Government of Goa. GCCI has taken this concept to the next level and had a detailed meeting with Dr Pramod Sawant. The knowledge partners for this project are BITS Pilani represented by Dr Anil Wali and Goa Institute of Management (GIM) represented by Dr Sebastian Morris.
Dr Sawant discussed the proposal in detail and assured full support from the state. He has instructed to complete and submit the detailed project report to the GCCI and respective knowledge partners. Tawadkar will be overseeing this project. Dr Sawant also proposed to consider fodder cultivation as an allied activity. He mentioned that there is a huge demand for fodder and fewer efforts are required for cultivation and currently Goa depends on neighbouring states for the supply of fodder.
This project will have a parallel eco-tourism concept for sustainability and will help the tribal community for gainful employment and trade.
Proposed Activities
- Establishment of honey park and community dairy farming
- Engagement with tribes
- Training, workshop for apiculture/dairy production
- Networking for selling products.
- Providing materials to tribals
- Prepare nectar gardens
- Live demo of apiculture procedure and dairy experience
- Testing and certification
The expected impact of this project will be
- Model for apiculture and community dairy farming
- Enhanced eco-tourism
- Enhanced livelihood /employment generation for tribals
- Enhanced honey and milk production
Sanjay Amonkar, Director General, GCCI stated that this project aligns with the Chamber’s mission of Sustainability and Inclusivity@2047 conceptualised by Shrinivas Dempo, GCCI President. He further informed that the estimated project cost would be Rs 10 crore and funding will be given from the Central Government. The State Government will help with the land, infrastructure, and statutory clearances.
Ambika Dhakenkar, GCCI Agri Coordinator; Dr Raghunath Dhuri, Co-Chair, GCCI Agri Committee and Suprajit Raikar were also present.
