PORVORIM: Goa CM Pramod Sawant assured the State Legislative Assembly on Friday of enacting legislation to promote contract and community farming practices, aiming to revive agriculture on fallow lands.
The proposed legislation is expected to be introduced in the upcoming session of the Assembly. Sawant also pledged to demolish all illegal structures that have encroached upon agricultural land through unauthorised conversions.
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The assurance came in response to the Opposition benches’ concerns about the decline of agriculture due to the conversion and filling up of large stretches of fallow land for non-agricultural purposes.
A private member resolution, led by MLAs Vijai Sardesai, Carlos Ferreira, and Cruz Silva, advocating for suitable legislation to encourage contract farming in the State, was later withdrawn after Sawant’s assurance.
“We are very keen on implementing an Act on contract farming while also introducing community farming concepts. Both must go hand in hand, especially since 90 percent of farmers in Goa are marginal farmers,” stated Sawant.
He also acknowledged the need to address pending agricultural tenanted cases dating back to 1991 while drafting the Bill.
Concerning the protection of agricultural land, the CM mentioned that an Act has already been enacted to prohibit the sale of paddy agricultural land.
Admitting that fallow lands have been misused, Sawant instructed the Deputy Collector to take appropriate action against such structures and demolish them. He further warned of action against panchayats issuing house numbers for such unauthorised structures.
MLA Vijai Sardesai brought to the House’s attention that, as of the 2021 report, nearly 13,500 hectares of agriculture land remain fallow. He stressed the urgency to cultivate large fallow lands through contract farming to minimize economic risks and encourage Goans to embrace agriculture as a profitable profession.
