Team Herald
MARGAO: Agriculturists, especially the ones who take up paddy cultivation, are in a fix due to the absence of harvesting machine operators. Some influential persons have managed to get their fields harvested while others are now worried of losing their entire ripe crop due to the absence.
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Various MLAs and Ministers in Goa have their harvesting machines and lend them to the agriculturists for seasonal harvest of crops. The extraordinary situation of the pandemic in Goa has sent all the businesses and operations including agriculture off course. The fields that were sown at the onset of Rabi season were supposed to be harvested before the Zilla Panchayat elections but are now overdue for harvest.
J Santano Rodrigues from Curtorim said that there has been no planning in the handling of the Agriculture sector. Santano said that “as far as the harvesting problem is concerned it was the responsibility of the Agriculture Department to fix responsibility to provide operators on the Registered Service Providers’.
“If the Agriculture Department had trained some Goans to operate the harvester there was no problem. Half of the rise has fallen off,” said Santano.
“There are service providers but there is no service due to absence of resources,” he added.
Rupesh Naik, an agriculturist, has requested the Chief Minister to look into the matter and help them to get the operators for the machines. “We are ready to have regular checks and also prepared to give them all the apparatus to keep them safe from the spread of Coronavirus,” said Rupesh.
Rupesh said that some have operators but the majority of the fields in deep Salcete have no harvester machines due to lack of operators otherwise we are risking a large chunk of agriculture fields.
Many agriculturists who are in a sound position have harvester machines but have no operators to lend help and harvest the crops.
However, the agriculture sector is now facing novel problems due to the spread of the novel Coronavirus. The restriction of the movement of the agriculturists due to fear and miscommunication has had a bigger impact. Further on the lockdown due to the pandemic has sealed the borders disallowing the traders coming to the State to pick the produce of rice. The agriculturists are in deep trouble. The Kharif season has passed and there is no hope of a better Rabi season for the farmers.
Agriculture Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar couldn’t be contacted till late evening. The agriculturists are waiting for a bigger intervention by the Government to help them out of the situation.
