SULCORNA: Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, while inaugurating the Don Bosco College of Agriculture at Sulcorna, praised the Salesian Society and its work in the fields of education and agriculture. Lauding the efforts of Don Bosco priests and the structure they had built and maintained in Sulcorna since the 1980’s, Parsekar said it is his wish to live in Sulcorna, but regretted that it would not be possible as long as he is holding the office of the chief minister.
Parsekar inaugurated the Agriculture College, which offers a four-year BSc degree in agriculture, on Saturday by opening a basket of local fruits. He also released the eight issue of the weekly magazine CHiMERA of the DBCA students and expressed the need for a veterinary sciences college in Goa.
The Agriculture Director Ulhas Pai Kakode spoke of the 1970s, when he was a young officer in Sanguem and Fr Ludovic was at Sulcorna, and how they dreamed of starting an agriculture college in Goa. This was the realization of that dream, he said, and congratulated those who made it possible. He encouraged the students to strive for excellence now that they can finally learn about the crops of Goa.
Director of ICAR-CCARI Dr N P Singh and Goa University Vice Chancellor Dr Satish Shetye also lauded the efforts of the Salesian Society.
The college also remembered the Governor General’s visit in 1984 and then Rector Fr Ariosto Coelho’s efforts in starting the farm high school and the dream to have an agriculture college since then. The Salesians thanked Parsekar for granting all the permissions for the college in just four months.
Speaking from California, Fr Ariosto Coelho stated, “As the first students of the first agriculture college in Goa, I see in you the realization of yet another dream at Don Bosco Agro-Ed Complex (DBAEC) in Sulcorna.”
“This property of 810 acres is an ideal location for growing 100 percent organic crops and is a practical place for children to get hands-on experience,” asserted Miguel Braganza, who’s has strived to preserve agriculture and has now moved from Mapusa to Sulcorna to teach horticulture and help Sulcorna with the paperwork for an engineering college.
“We plan to have hands-on training and send our students to live in villages, work with farmers, implement a new method of agriculture or a new variant of a crop and do proper research. Sulcorna’s initiative is to create agriculture entrepreneurs,” explained Dr Cassie Rodrigues, the officiating principal who has relocated from Carmona due to her passion for agriculture.
Director Fr Felix Serrao stated that one of the aims of teaching agriculture is to create job-givers and not job-seekers. Former agriculture officer and activist Minguel Braganza was a key person at the inaugural function; he had also helped with the paperwork to get the college started.
