Panaji: Goa Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai is in favour of holding beauty contests in paddy fields if that serves the purpose of attracting the youth to farming.

The minister was responding to the Demands for Grants for Agriculture department in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

He said all attempts should be made to make agriculture an attractive profession.

"Today agriculture does not appeal the young generation. They feel that it is a profession of the old people. The need of the hour is to incentivise agriculture," he said.

Stressing his point, the minister said, "If you want, you can even host beauty contests in paddy fields. Let the youth come. You can do that. Do everything possible to get the young generation to the fields".

Sardesai had recently appealed to the farmers to chant a Vedic mantra in their fields and adopt "cosmic farming" techniques to increase the yield.

He said one should adopt traditional methods of farming. "This is required for the food safety," he said.

Underlining the importance of community farming, Sardesai said, "The Goa government will remain the guarantor of land to ensure that no one will grab the land in question once it is brought under the contract farming scheme," he said.