One day as I was sitting at my desk in the office of North Goa jurisdiction, I got a call from a farmer from Tiswadi Taluka whether I would be interested in seeing at first hand Khazan area. Although, I knew that Khazan land was dominating in Tiswadi, Bicholim and Ponda talukas along the river line of Mandovi and Zuari rivers, I had never ever been so close to seeing it then so my affirmation to this tour was immediate and was briefed that someone will contact me soon to fix a suitable date.
So around five years ago three of us friends from Panaji chose a Sunday – an educationist who traces his ancestry to Dongri village, an environmentalist from interior part of State and me – drove up to Mandur village of Tiswadi where our farmer friends were waiting for us on the bund side. The common bond shared by three of us was that we were all alumni from UASB in Karnataka and were now in different profession of life.
While walking along the bund of Neura, Arrosim and Dongri villages we were briefed about the longest Khazan belt in Tiswadi taluka and the need to see it so that something would be worked out at the government level to preserve this land from getting completely submerged under water for eternity.
It was vital to understand the era during Portuguese regime as how the farmers and fisherman co-existed in a symbiosis manner managing their land and tried to survive against all odds.
Present scenario
Today, there are Farmer Tenant Associations, who are the true guardian of these mechanism of farming operation but it is sorry to state that now in a dire states of affairs due to rampant breach in the bund whereby the agriculture land gets inundated with salty water rendering it uncultivable and turning it into a barren land.
The journey begins
In order to see it properly, we were taken on tour in a mechanised boat to all the areas in Neura river bank side where there were now bunds and most of the land which was once under rice cultivation had turned into mangroves leading to its fall from grace.
Understanding the situation
It was indeed very difficult to regroup the farmers and fisherman to come on one page of development as fresh fish commanded a huge price and those controlling the manas through auction wielded power to manipulate the ground situation as per their needs and wishes.
The system that works
The manas was a wooden structure placed at the entry point of the bund with a system designed for open and shut at high and low tide. The net is placed at the bottom of the gate and at the low tide the fishes get entrapped in the net. This fishes command a good price due to its taste as well as area and type of catch. The farmers lament that due to this operation they are left at God’s mercy and something needs to be done otherwise the land would be lost forever.
Making a documentary
At this junction, we roped in a reporter and camera man who were with us throughout the day and managed to film the whole area which had turned into a no man’s land. We all were taken in a boat to a far away point so that the actual paddy land submerged under water was visible to the naked eye despite of the water colour which was turbid in nature. Here after seeing everything that was told to us and understanding the terrain around us, we were really exhausted and needed a hard earned rest and felt hunger in our belly.
So our hosts managed to catch the fresh fishes trapped in the nets and gave us a taste of the roasted fish on firewood gathered from the bund side. They had managed to bring in some rice, curry and salted fish as such items were normally packed while going out for a journey. The experience of sharing such simple but lovely food with others will always be cherished because it conveys the true spirit of the younger generation who want to bring in a change in their way of life but circumstances make them to fight for their right with difficulty all throughout.
Positive action
In this back-drop, we all took a vow that something need to be done on priority basis and the need of the hour was to galvanise the farming communities in this area to come forward as joint efforts of all those who supported this case of paddy revolution taking roots in a Khazan land where for decades the saline water had made in road into their field.
A case study was prepared by clubbing the news coverage done by the guests for the benefit of higher authorities and necessary application to get seed material as well as subsidies to revitalise the area. Now armed with all the details we managed to get a group of farmers to till their land by getting machineries on hire and all the low lying areas near Dongri came to life once again with greenery under paddy cultivation through the innovative steps of these three friends who came to the rescue of those farmers and who still remember us for a noble cause initiated for them.
Such happy tidings must be carried out in similar places so that the youth are encouraged to shift to farming as now healthy living is the need of the hour and agriculture is the only source of getting good crop grown in our soil despite of hardship.
(The writer, former Deputy Director of Agriculture, manages ‘Kamat Securites’ and ‘Agri-Horti Consultancy Services’)
