An incentive of Rs 10,000 per hectare to the fallow land owner by the government has been proposed.
The ‘Goa Utilisation of Fallow Agricultural Land Bill, 2014’ introduced by Khaunte also speaks about setting up of Fallow Land Board for the purpose of administering and regulating matters regarding fallow lands.
As per the bill, Government, within 30 days from its passing, should appoint surveyors to survey the State to identify and categorise fallow land, the report of which shall be submitted to government within two years.
“Upon receiving the report, government through official Gazette, will declare its intention of developing and regulating the land for the purpose of contract farming and other agricultural purposes,” the bill reads.
Following the notification, the owners of the land have to register themselves with the government, failure of which would be liable for penalty of Rs 10,000.
“The land owners will have to hand over their lands to the farmers registered with the government,” the bill’s provisions mandate. The contract farmer will have no right to the land, like the tenancy or mundkarial rights. The contract farmer would be utilizing the land only for the temporary contracted period.
However, the farmer would be eligible for the benefits under any schemes notified by the government. Also the bill speaks about a fine of Rs 100 per sq mtrs of land per year if any land owner keeps his land fallow.
