PANAJI
Midway into the harvesting operations, which are in various stages across Goa, officials at the agriculture department are in a buoyant mood with farmers generally logging ‘good’ harvests despite the prolonged dry spell at the fag-end of the kharif season.
Farmers in Bardez and Tiswadi talukas have begun reporting good harvests this year, sources in the agriculture department said, adding that yields should easily surpass figures of the previous year. In St Estevam, where villagers pooled resources and cultivated nearly 50 hectares of khazan land which was for decades lying fallow, the first phase of harvesting has been completed yielding nearly 45 tonnes of paddy before winnowing.
The mechanical harvester, which the St Estevam farmers club deployed held them in good stead as it had an in-built mechanism to protect the harvested crop from the intermittent drizzles which hit Goa in recent days and minimized damage and losses.
Several farmers in Bardez too have been reporting more than satisfactory results following their harvesting operations.
Meanwhile politicians are jostling to provide farmers with mechanized harvesters, footing the hiring bills in some cases.
Mechanical harvesters cost approximately Rs 1,200 per hour but the agriculture department has a scheme by which it pays back part of the costs as subsidy to the farmer.
