Panaji: Goa’s cooperative sector will expand into newer areas under the Goa State Cooperative Policy 2026, which calls for the creation of cooperatives in sectors such as fishing, horticulture, cold storage, logistics, dairy and fodder cultivation.
The policy, released by the Cooperative Minister Subhash Shirodkar, states that cooperatives in fishing and horticulture should be promoted as high-potential sectors to bridge demand-supply gaps and enhance farmers’ incomes.
It supports the creation of an apex federation of primary fishing societies to implement schemes for increasing production, procurement, processing and marketing.
The policy also proposes reforms in housing cooperative societies, stating that all housing societies should be converted into cooperative maintenance societies so that all apartment owners become owners of the proportional land and no separate sale deed is required in the name of the society. “It will eliminate the difficulties of getting NOCs, etc,” the policy states.
It recommends strengthening audit, inspection and monitoring mechanisms to eliminate NPAs, mismanagement and to safeguard depositors.
Earlier, the government had constituted a committee to formulate the state’s first cooperative policy. NRI Commissioner of Goa and committee chairman Narendra Sawaikar said that the committee kept in mind the principles of the National Cooperative Policy while drafting it.
“The policy is state specific. There are about 5,800 coop societies in Goa, and the policy suggests autonomy to the sector, training to employees, and ways to financially strengthen weak cooperatives,” he said.
Sawaikar said that the policy aims to strengthen the cooperative sector.
The launch was attended by GCCI president Pratima Dhond, RCS Ashutosh Apte, NABARD-Goa general manager Sandeep Dharkar, secretary (cooperation) and GCCI director general Sanjay Amonkar, among others.
During the event, GCCI signed an MoU with the RCS office to promote products of self-help groups. “SHGs often work in isolation. The MoU aims to form clusters among them and scale the operations of SHGs,” Dhond said. She said that GCCI has started an SHG cell that will help in branding, packaging and marketing of SHG products.
