MARGAO
A meeting of the Village Development Committee of the Village Panchayat of Navelim on Sunday on the draft Agriculture Policy has come out with a firm no to the entry of outsiders in contract farming.
In fact, the meeting, which was attended by Santosh Lucy Carvalho, panchayat members, farmers and villagers demanded that contract farming should be allowed only through local farmer groups and societies.
The meeting has called for stringent punishment including jail and fine of Rs 5 lakh on households and establishments discharging sewage into the water bodies.
The participants pointed out that the Goa’s Agriculture Policy must aim to ensure that agriculture is retained and sustained and that there is sustainable growth in agricultural production with equity.
Asserting that agriculture is not possible without access to water, and unpolluted water, the meeting demanded that apart from schemes for subsidising construction of wells, the existing water bodies must be preserved and sustained.
Participants said the Agriculture Department should have powers to address issues of discharge of sewage and garbage in the fields, and to ensure that there is no blockage or disruption of drainage system which adversely affects agriculture.
For this purpose, the participants said the Agriculture Department has to be designated as the nodal department in matters of agriculture. “It has to have a database of the landholdings, sizes, and inventorisation of the various kinds of agricultural lands including khazans and the various kinds of agricultural uses that the agricultural land is put to, besides drainage route maps. Presently, the Agriculture Census is handled by the Department of Planning and Statistics, and it appears that information is not found with the Department of Agriculture. Good governance should ensure that the census data is provided to, used and applied by the concerned department, informed Navelim VDC convener Joao De Souza.
He said the Agriculture Department should feed information for the preparation of land use maps, apart from securing people’s participation in database building, in the way the biodiversity act provides for the same. “The Agriculture Department should also conduct inspections and periodic studies that identify the needs of farmers and also the disablers of agriculture so that appropriate steps can be taken suo motu, without waiting for complaints,” he added.
Participants pointed out that not allowing OCI card holders to hold agricultural land is detrimental to Goa, given the context of forced (by circumstances) migration in current times, only for purposes of employment to return to Goa in retirement.
They also stressed on the need to set up mechanisms at local levels that will ensure participation of all farmers.
The participants have demanded a total ban on conversion of agricultural fields, asserting that no agricultural fields should be converted under any circumstances.
