MARGAO
When 96-year-old farmer Domingo Costa walked into the Pai Tiatrist auditorium of the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao on Saturday morning along with farmers from Loutolim, he had come with the hope of an interaction with Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan.
Armed with a memorandum, Costa and other farmers had all come to make an emotional plea to the Union Minister to protect the Khazans and farmers of Loutolim from the new high-level Borim bridge across river Zuari. While leaving the venue, the 96-year-old farmer pleaded with the government not to destroy the khazans by constructing the Borim bridge through the fields.
The farmers led by Chairman of the Carbot, Mascasana & Bebdo Tenants Association, Albert Pinheiro welcomed the government’s initiative to save khazans, saying it will certainly spur a revival of agriculture not just in Loutulim, but the entire Goa. They, however, made an impassioned prayer to the Union Minister to save the farming communities of Loutulim and Goa and preserve the unique agricultural heritage, the village khazans, for posterity.
They prayed that the Union Minister for Agriculture may through his good office deliberate upon the (MORTH) Government of India not to construct the new high-level Borim bridge through the khazan paddy fields so that the agriculture of the village does not suffer causing concern of the livelihood.
The memorandum drew the attention of the Union Minister to the fact that the Zuari River is the largest river in Goa, passing through the Talukas of Tiswadi, Ponda, Mormugao, Salcete, Sanguem and Quepem. “Extensive areas of saline wetlands of River Zuari have been reclaimed about 4,000 years ago by the indigenous communities of the villages with an unrivalled, entirely sustainable, land management and land use system comprising of bandhs made of clay and other natural material, large expanses of fertile agricultural lands, an intricate system of fish breeding water bodies and tidally operated sluice gates linking them to the river, which are collectively known as the Khazan lands”, they pointed out.
They said the khazan lands have proven over 4,000 years to conserve the environment and biodiversity while providing all the economic resources that sustain the indigenous populations and culture of the villages and are therefore protected under Clause 8(V)(3) of the CRZ Notification 2011 as an area requiring special consideration for CRZ of Goa. “The Zuari River forms the lifeline for agricultural activities for local farmers of the villages of Loutulim and Borim, who cultivate paddy and fish that naturally thrive in abundance, due to the fertile soils and saline waters of the Khazans of Zuari River. Despite all odds being against us, we have maintained the khazans of Loutulim in the sustainable, immaculate way of our ancestors, and have maintained intricate community knowledge of these World Heritage agro-pisciculture wonders. The project threatens the best-maintained khazans of the whole of Goa,” the memorandum added.
Pointing out that the farmers have objected to the construction of the new high-level Borim bridge even on stilts as the approach roads would have to be constructed through the khazan fields to cart material, the farmers contended “once the mud is put in the fields it cannot be removed or desilted and in the due course it spreads in the other fields as the khazan paddy fields are of Alluvial soil (chikol) as the khazan is made after the reclamation of the low lying land of the River Zuari”.
Says Pinheiro: “The schemes outlined by the Union Minister and the government are welcome as they would give a boost to agriculture. Even small schemes will help to revive agriculture in the state. But, we want the government to protect our khazans by coming out with an alternative for the new Borim bridge that would not destroy the khazan paddy fields”.
