ERWIN FONSECA
ASSAGAO: It was in June 2014 that a small attempt was made in Assagao when four farmers came together for the first time to start farming under the community farming umbrella. In those days, even getting such a small number of farmers to work collectively was a big effort, as it involved continuous brainstorming sessions and awareness meets. However, no one took this move seriously, as for many it meant that just four farmers coming together was no big deal. But this was a stepping stone for a much greater project that would be coming up about ten years down the line, and a launchpad for the youth to get attracted to farming.
Agriculture is often seen as a non-lucrative job, particularly due to the high cost of labour and low returns, but if labour costs are reduced and returns increased, then agriculture can surely be profitable. It was with this thought in mind and also with an aim to create awareness in this area that Harish Sawant, a young police constable from Assagao, embarked on a mission — and it was truly a challenge.
“I basically come from a farmer family in Assagao, though now I am in the police service and my wife runs a business. But we still make time for field work. Even my parents were into farming. As I grew up, I noticed a downward trend in agriculture in Assagao and surrounding villages, and this pained me a lot. So, I decided that I should do something, and after a lot of thought and discussions with close friends, we conceptualised a plan of community farming which would involve rigorous paperwork. But we thought we will accept the challenge and go ahead,” he said.
It was two years ago that Harish actually began work to contact his neighbouring farmers and dig out all papers and pin down all survey numbers and their owners. Collecting all documents, he finally ended up with 32 farmers who had different areas of fields surrounding his field, and then started the work of holding meetings with them, convincing them and bringing them on board.
“It was a challenge to get on board 32 farmers, to convince them, have meetings with them, apprise them of the benefits and make them look at the positive aspects of it. Many had to be repeatedly met, as no success was achieved in just one meeting. No sooner did they agree, it felt like a big victory for me, and I embarked on my project.”
Harish spent his own money for everything from the start, and this ran into lakhs. He applied for fencing of 1.5 lakh sq metres of land, and the officials from the agriculture department arrived and approved the project. And thus came to be born the Redisal Community Farming Group at Assagao, involving 32 farmers who would be cultivating in an area of 1.5 lakh sq metres of their land.
“The first crop we took up after fencing our fields was the kharif crop of paddy last year, and all farmers put together produced tons of paddy from this big area. While we retained some paddy for ourselves, the other amount we sold, and all farmers were quite ecstatic with the produce — and it was all worth my efforts, I felt.”
Keeping the tempo on, all the farmers decided to cultivate osanne (cowpea — a dry pulse crop grown in Goa as a rabi crop), and it was yet another achievement for them and yet another cause for jubilation. “Though many even undertook planting of chillies and other winter vegetables, the main crop we took up was osanne, as we felt that such a big area should not be kept vacant while we wait for the next monsoons for paddy. Though we never grew osanne on this place in a big way, we decided let’s give it a try, because in any case it requires no labour and no irrigation. And I must say that on average, each farmer has harvested about 200 kg of osanne — for some, it could be even more — and after selling, as this crop has no labour involved, each farmer’s net income from selling only osanne could be anywhere around a lakh. So this gives me a sense of satisfaction that I played a vital role in helping our farmers not only bring their land under cultivation but even earn a decent income,” says Harish.
He feels that more than paddy, it was this cowpea crop that was more profitable to the farmers, but nonetheless it has been a project for others to learn from and follow. “No doubt compared to other states, our land holdings in Goa for each farmer are quite small, but I am sure if farmers come together and start such community farming, we can generate Goan produce in a big way and be sustainable in farming. Instead of discarding agriculture or selling our fields, it’s better we come together as a team and work — and the results could be just fabulous,” he concludes.