SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
They are truly sons of the soil. They toil hard, not for months but years. And for generations. And yet when they toil day and night to produce crops, which you and all politicians can eat, and yet see their fields flooded and their crops destroyed, due to sheer negligence and callousness of the authorities, we should hang our heads in shame.
Are we going to cut the hands that feed us?
In fields after fields, especially next to bridge and highway construction projects from the South to the North of Goa, traditional farmers, in Cortalim, Agassaim, Guirim, and other places, are looking at their flooded fields, destroyed crops and their sunken future. And for no fault of theirs. And not nature’s either.
THIS MISERY IS TOTALLY MAN-MADE. FIELDS OF MANY GOAN FARMERS HAVE BEEN MURDERED
As we have reported from Guirim and today from Cortalim (see page 2) it is clear that their fields have been killed. And this is how. Large amounts of construction debris being dumped on fields. This has led to all the cross drains taking out excess water getting choked. Even the pipes laid along the farms to pump out water are totally clogged.
Father George Quadros, a priest who has literally devoted his life to agriculture and to ensure that farmers modernise and get the maximum from their crops, says with more than a touch of sadness, “I’ve always said processes are more important than projects. Here, projects are being done, but there should be a process.” He went on to explain that Goa can see a positive farmer’s movement if the farmers and the government work together.
But the reality is otherwise. Father Quadros, who still travels miles to go to various fields to plant and harvest, is clear when he says that if a field is underwater for more than five days, it is destroyed with all the crops gone. If it is less than five days, even then there is a very little chance of more than 50 per cent of the crop surviving.
And then he makes a very moving remark, “The farmers of Goa, have only the Almighty to look up to for rice on their plates.”
But then this isn’t the only reason why the farmers of Goa need some sensitive treatment. They are our providers and saviours of a land that has traditionally depended on agriculture. This is our traditional occupation. And that is being crushed under the weight of so-called development. Trees and hills are getting cut and destroyed. Rampant construction, most of it illegal, has been destroying agricultural fields. Change in land zones has meant that land for farming is being used for construction.
Then there have been instances where poor management of sluice gates has led to saline water entering so many fields and destroying them like in Khazangundo in Parsem in Pernem taluka some years ago.
Most tragically, there is no coordination between the Agriculture Department and those that are in charge of construction like the PWD and the GSIDC. At the end of the day, can we really say that farmers are a priority in Goa? Sadly, they are not.
The solution lines in having a farmer’s first policy. You cannot protect the environment without protecting Goa’s farmers. Their fields on which they toil need to be nurtured and protected. They must get seeds and fertilizers at subsided rates. Their crops must have a market. And at no point of time should the government forget that when you make bridges and roads they cannot be at the cost of our farms.
The bottom line is that when the government thinks of high-end policies for roads, IT, tourism, etc, they should do that once a proper humane and profitable farmers’ policy is made and implemented.
They are the hands that feed us, with hearts that nurture us. Goa cannot neglect them. And kill their fields.
