Team Herald
MARGAO: In a major decision, around 50 farmers from Navelim have joined hands with other stakeholders to revive cultivation in 1 lakh square meters of land around Saipem Lake that has been lying fallow for the last 30 years
This was decided at the three-and-a-half-hour-long meeting that was convened in the Navelim Panchayat Hall on Sunday by the Navelim Village Development Committee (VDC), which has taken up this initiative.
The farmers who are part of the Saipem Lake Navelim Farmers Union unanimously appointed Antonio Alvares, as the Chairman of the new farmers committee while members of the committee were also appointed.
While Navelim Sarpanch Paulo Pereira congratulated the farmers for being united for the community farming exercise and assured all the support, the Salcete Zonal Agricultural Officer (ZAO) Sheriff Furtado explained to the farmers the various subsidies available to them.
Fr George Quadros of the Don Bosco Agricultural Unit gave an assurance that work on the cultivation would begin this week itself but he urged the farmers not to be demoralised if the first season is not so good as he emphasized that this is a process that would take a couple of years and that to take on a challenge, they have to start somewhere.
He gave the example of what they had done in other villages in the State and added that they would take care of all the modalities and run from pillar to post to get the work started provided that the farmers are serious and fully committed to the project.
Agnelo Furtado, President of the Chinchinim Agricultural Club (CAC) also shared his first-hand experience of how together with the Don Bosco Unit, they successfully brought acres of fallow land in their village under cultivation.
Later, an inspection was held at the fields to identify which parts would be taken under cultivation in the first phase.
Here, various problems the farmers face were discussed including the sewerage contamination, which was the reason why farmers had stopped cultivating. The Navelim VDC decided to call the WRD and the Sewerage Department to ensure that sewage and waste water is no longer discharged into the lake and fields and that there are also functioning irrigation channels to supply water to the fields.
The Navelim VDC also took a decision to ask the Panchayat to write to the PWD to remove all the debris from the fields from the highway construction immediately while there are also plans to call Agriculture Minister Ravi Naik to the site for further inspection.
Incidentally, Alvares is the petitioner in the High Court regarding the sewage contamination of the lake and fields and he explained to those gathered about the latest developments.
