PONDA: After two decades of lying unused, large tracts of community farmland at Talaulim and Borim are set to get a new lease on life. What started off as an experiment has now buoyed the hopes of local farmers after they met with unexpected success while cultivating black rice on a small portion of land. They intend to replicate cultivation of the crop throughout the expanse of fields that has so far been lying unused.
Rich in nutrients and having medicinal value, black rice also has great market value. It is sold for Rs 300-400 per kg as against the Rs 50-60 per kg that regular paddy rice garners.
Incidentally, farmland revival plans at Talaulim and Borim were in the offing since late last year. O Heraldo, in its November 27, 2022, Review report, ‘The Farming of Hope: A revival movement to transform Goa’s fields from fallow to fertile’, had highlighted the farmers’ intentions of reviving at least 80,000 sqm of farmland to save it from being lost to the vagaries of nature and, ultimately, “development”.
The plan was put into action four months ago, when farmers at Wadi – Talaulim sowed black paddy rice in a section of the fallow fields to ascertain whether the land would still be suitable for cultivation. The results surprised them.
Attributing their newfound success to AbayKesarkar, who heads the NGO, Green Army, senior farmers PandurangSawantTalavlikar, BhagwantNaik and Shankar Satarkar said had it not been for Kesarkar’s constant encouragement and prodding, they would have never been motivated to take up the challenge.
“Over 80,000 sqm of land owned by the KutumbanShetkariSangatana was barren at Talaulim. The situation at Borim was similar where at least 60,000 sqm of land belonging to 23 different farmers had been lying fallow,” Kesarkar said. “As an experiment to revive the land, we brought 3,000 sqm at Talaulim and 10,000 sqm at Borim under cultivation and used only organic fertilizers.”
With able assistance from the state agriculture department and from local MLA Ramkrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar, the farmers’ efforts began to bear fruit and their first-ever black rice crop is now ready for harvesting. In fact, Dhavalikar attended the ceremonial harvesting of the crop recently.
“The farmers have decided to grow either black rice or the Jyoti variety rice on this land during the upcoming monsoon, and some other crop during the winter,” Kesarkar said and added that the black rice seeds from the current harvest will be solely used for cultivating the rest of the fields.
