MARGAO: The Chinchinim Agricultural Club (CAC), buoyed by the success of last year’s bumper harvest, in cooperation with local farmers, has undertaken the cultivation of an additional 15 hectares (150,000 sq metres) of paddy fields (rice cultivation) at a place called ‘Bodem fields’, which is located near the Dandevaddo junction along National Highway (NH) 66. Buyoed by last year’s bumper harvest, ryots have now set a target to bring 100 hectares of fallow land under paddy cultivation in the kharif season.
“Fr George Quadros, the ‘paddy man’ of Goa, along with his associates from Goencho Xetkar (Jovito Lopes, Stanley Fernandes and Neville Luis), took on the responsibility of reviving paddy cultivation on fallow land in the village and reaped a bumper harvest. This boosted the morale of the farmers. They were aided by a young agriculture graduate, Joyd Simoes, who owns and operates a well-maintained fire engine red tractor for ploughing,” said CAC President Agnelo Furtado.
Incidentally, Furtado is also the President of the Chinchinim Comunidade and has been hailed across Goa, for the initiatives by CAC and Comunidade that have not only revived vast tracts of fallow land but have also brought in additional land under cultivation, like this latest project .
While addressing the gathering, Furtado explained that the total area under cultivation in Chinchinim village is about 80 hectares, which includes Diguam Band fields (25 ha), Patto (30 ha), Deussua (10 ha), and Bodem (15 ha).
“The plan is to eventually reach a target of 100 hectares under cultivation,” he announced.
Earlier, the inauguration function was done at the hands of Water Resources Minister (WRD) Subhash Shirodkar, in the presence of Velim MLA Cruz Silva, Chinchinim Sarpanch Valentino Barretto and his team members.
Both the MLA and the Sarpanch spoke on the occasion where they praised Shirodkar for deploying machinery to clean lakes ponds and nullahs (drainage channels) in the village
“A total of 50 water bodies were cleaned in the village, which were not touched for many years. This initiative will enhance water harvesting capabilities and water storage capacity of the village, and it will help bring down the temperatures of the sweltering heat in the next summer. Maintaining a blanket of water in the lakes also helps in maintaining the level of water in the village wells,” Furtado added.
Furtado also expressed gratitude to the Salcete Zonal Agriculture Officer (ZAO) of Agriculture Department for providing subsidies for fencing and the department’s Mechanical Cultivation Officer (MCO) for providing machinery for ploughing. He also praised Shirodkar and the engineers and staff for clearing the water bodies.
The program concluded with the distribution and planting of fruit and flowering saplings by Evonne Cardozo, the Chairperson of the village’s Biodiversity Committee.
