Farmers along with Our Lady of Rosary Navelim Parish Priest Fr Gabriel Coutinho and Paddy Man of Goa, Fr George Quadros after launching agricultural operations at the Salpem lake, Navelim.
MARGAO
As part of the mission to bring the entire Salpem lake fields to paddy cultivation, farmers launched the planned mechanical ploughing activity on Monday to bring additional 1.5 lakh square metres of fallow land back to cultivation.
A fleet of tractors rolled into the fields towards the Sirvodem-Margao side of the lake after the activity was blessed by Parish Priest of Our Lady of Rosary Church, Navelim Fr Gabriel Coutinho in the presence of Paddy Man of Goa, Fr George Quadros on Monday.
The ploughing operation was initially scheduled to commence in January, but the flow of sewage from neigbouring Margao had postponed the exercise, but not before the farmers under the banner of Salpem Lake Navelim Farmers’ Union dashed off letters to the South Goa District Collector and the Margao Municipal Council to plug the sewage flow into the fields.
This is the 4th consecutive year that the farmers have taken up cultivation/ ploughing of the Salpem Lake fields, Navelim, since they first revived cultivation three years ago. Buoyed by the success, the farmers had decided to bring additional area under cultivation, to bring a total area of three lakh square metres of the fields under cultivation.
This year, cultivation has begun in a new area of approximately 1.5 lakh square metres, besides the 1.5 lakh square metre area which was brought under cultivation in the last three years, bringing the total cultivated area to around 3 lakh square metres.
James Gomes and other farmers thanked Fr George Quadros for rejuvenating the soil after more than 35 years through mechanisation.
“Our special thanks to Sharrif Furtado, South Goa Zonal Agricultural Department, for his constant support; Viraj, Mechanism Agriculture Department; Sheetal (PWD); Navelim Panchayat, Navelim VDC, MMC, and WRD for supporting us throughout our work,” he said.
