MARGAO: Several farmers across South Goa on Wednesday alleged that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s pitch for a privatisation push in agriculture is like imposing more poverty on the farming community and an attempt to take away their rights on their agricultural land.
Speaking to O Heraldo, farmers said that the government must first focus on reviving the tenant associations.
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They said that it should promote more and more community farming instead of pushing for privatisation in agriculture, besides becoming partners in community farming.
On Tuesday, CM Sawant had said, “If we turn to the government for every aspect of agriculture, things will not work and only privatisation can ensure that changes take place in agriculture.”
“The hidden agenda of the government is simple and the government wants to become rich with the help of private companies. Presently, the government is bankrupt and is now accused of supporting agriculture in Goa,” said J Santano Rodrigues, a farmer from Curtorim.
He said that privatisation of agriculture will not benefit the real and small farmers; instead it will add more burden on them.
“There are fears that agricultural land will be taken away from the small farmers who are still struggling to move forward due to no support from the government. The government needs to revive the tenant associations which are closely related to agriculture and focus on promoting community farming,” he added.
Rosario Colaco, a farmer from Nuvem said that it is sad to see the government trying to bring private firms in the agriculture sector in Goa, instead of trying to resolve the difficulties of the farmers.
“Privatisation push in agriculture is an attempt to take away the rights on the piece of land which farmers have been holding for centuries,” he said.
Santosh Velip, another farmer, accused the government of not giving the required attention to farming.
“Everything from the government’s side for farmers is basically on paper. The government is yet to reach out to hundreds of farmers who are eagerly waiting for the help to give a push for farming activities,” he stated.
He alleged that the government is trying to hide its failures by diverting the attention of the farmers towards the privatisation of agriculture.
“Why can’t the government make more budgetary provisions to promote farming activities and encourage community farming, instead of raising its hands accepting defeat in protecting the farmers?” he asked.
