The monsoon will arrive in Goa within next fortnight and as per metrological department forecast at another below normal rainfall this year. Care should be taken to see that best use is made of available water. It is a common practice to blame that Goans shy away from agriculture, but still there are a lot of people who are still interested to cultivate but are not getting support from government side.
I have observed that a number of times farmers are not getting tractors to till their farms in time from agriculture departments. Unlike other states most Goans are marginal farmers with small land and cannot afford to keep own machines to plough their field so government must ensure that more agriculture departments are equipped with more ploughing machines.
Secondly many times farmers complain about sewage, garbage and other dirt in the field from housing complexes and cities but no action is taken against builders cause they are a privileged lot. The poor supply of labour coupled with high wages is another contributing factor for people to keep the land fallow. We have a lot of labour supply from neighboring states, the government should hire this labour by bringing them with proper identification cards in camps/ groups and give them decent accommodation make available this labourers to Goans farmers at subsidized wage scale and repatriate once farming season is completed.
I appreciate that some politician gives rice seeds during cultivation period and also harvesting machines, but the above problems should also be solved so that we have a clean and green Goa.
Fernandes George Joao, Navelim
