Students of Perpetual Succour Convent High School, Navelim harvest paddy. Captured by : Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
Students of Perpetual Succour Convent High School, Navelim on Tuesday got hands-on experience in harvesting paddy in the field of progressive farmer Claudius Dias.
The students not only harvested the paddy with the traditional sickle but thrashed the paddy with the sticks, a traditional practice employed by the farmers in some areas till date. At the end of the activity, the students were served with traditional khanji, fire-cooked mackerel and raw mango pickle. The activity was witnessed by senior officials of the agriculture department, including Zonal Agriculture officer Sheriff Furtado.
Claudius has cultivated black rice, Ratnagiri 7 rice, besides the popular varieties Jaya and Jyoti in his field this season. Addressing the students, Claudius expressed his happiness that the students got themselves involved in the traditional way of harvesting and thrashing paddy. “For the benefit of the students, we arranged for the students khaji, fire-cooked mackerel and raw mango pickle which farmers used to consume after a hard day's labour”, he said.
He added: We have shown the students how the experience of introducing Ratnagiri 7 rice has turned out a success, besides the traditional varieties Jyoti and Jaya. The whole purpose behind the visit by the students in the fields is to give them hands-on experience in harvesting and thrashing so that they understand what farming is all about”.
He said even if 4-5 out of the 100 students show interest in agriculture, it will help to keep alive agriculture in the state.
Teacher Rochel of Perpetual Succour High School, Naelim said the activity will help inculcate in the student the love for agriculture.
