MARGAO
Smiles lit the faces of this group of farmers belonging to the Scheduled tribes as they reaped rich harvest of paddy.
As a mechanical harvester went about harvesting the paddy on the agricultural fields forcibly acquired by the government around two decades ago, these farmers went home with tonnes of rice this season.
Elsewhere across the state, the paddy yield has been comparatively less this season due to the damage caused by the rains. A sense of satisfaction was writ large on the faces of these farmers from Aquem-Baixo as they tilled the land of their ancestors despite the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) forcibly acquiring the paddy fields around 2003-04.
Speaking on behalf of the farmers, progressive farmer, Claudius Dias said the yield has been 20 per cent less compared to the previous years, but he was quick to point out that the farmers are happy that the yield will meet their requirements for the entire year. “The rains during the flowering process caused damage to the paddy. My yield is 20 per cent less compared to the previous years. But, we are all happy that the yield would take care of self consumption and also help to sell the surplus rice in the market’, he said.
The farmers cultivated around 35,000 square metres of agricultural fields, including the fields admeasuring 28,000 square metres forcibly acquired by GSUDA around two decades ago to set up a transportation project. “The yield will be sufficient for our self consumption. These fields have been our livelihood and our employment. Our ancestors had toiled in these very fields over the decades before handing down the occupation to us. Since then, we have never stopped cultivation of the fields”, he said.
He added: “Farmers here have gone for the Jyoti variety of rice, which is in demand in the state. I have adopted the System for Rice Intensification (SRI) technique of paddy for better yield. The yield has been less because of the rains. The government should offer compensation to the farmers to tide over the loss”.
After a break, these farmers will now gear up to take up vegetable cultivation from November. If Claudius is to be believed, the farmers even sell their vegetable produce to the Horticulture Corporation of Goa.
