The second
batch of students of the Final Year B.Sc (Agriculture) degree program of Don Bosco College of
Agriculture, Sulcorna, conducted a method demonstration for farmers in
Panchwadi village of Ponda taluka on the advanced method of raising paddy
nursery by Dapog system. This system of raising seedlings is essential for
mechanical transplantation of rice seedlings with a tractor-drawn transplanter.
A group of nine girl students of the college were allotted the
village of Panchwadi, Ponda, recently. They updated the skills of the farmers
to prepare them for organic agriculture, mechanical transplanting and the SRI
method of rice cultivation, creating intermittent periods of flooding and drying
of the field that also makes the crop tolerant to short periods of break in the
monsoon. The seeds are sown on a concrete floor or flattened soil bed covered
with polythene sheet so that the seeds and young seedlings do not come in
contact with the soil. The merit of this method is that it requires less area
and is easier to uproot the seedlings without breaking the roots. The seedlings
can be rolled like a mat and then taken to the transplanting site mechanically
or by hand.
The group of students
also showed the farmers how to use leaves of Gliricidia sepium commonly known
as ‘Saal’ as a green manure, to reduce the dependence on fertilizers to supply
nutrients to the crop. The plant is easy to grow and makes a good fence to
protect the field against stray cattle, which is a problem in Panchwadi as in
other villages of Goa.
The
student have to stay in the village for three months as a part of Rural
Agriculture Work Experience Program or RAWEP to get in field learning
experience and to encourage adoption of new technology by the farmers. The
groups in Goa are likely to stay in the designated villages for an additional
two months till the end of the semester.
