Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai on Friday criticised the BJP-led government in the state for promoting fertiliser usage in agriculture, claiming the move was against the policy of organic farming.
Sardesai was objecting to a statement by deputy chief minister and Agriculture minister Chandrakant Kavlekar which informed that the state government would be providing fertilisers to farmers.
Sardesai, incidentally, was state agriculture minister before he was dropped from the Pramod Sawant cabinet a few weeks ago.
The GFP MLA accused Kavlekar of ignorance and said the Centre had sanctioned 500 farming clusters in the state which will have to be developed through organic methods.
He went on to claim that excessive use of fertilisers could cause cancer.
Kavlekar, in his reply, said the state government was stressing on organic farmer but at the moment farmers were demanding fertilisers.