DIVAR: After adopting mechanised farming, the farmers of Divar island have for the first time witnessed a tremendous rise in the paddy crop yield resulting in the island exporting around 250 tonnes of Jyoti rice.
A progressive farmer from Sao Minguel and sarpanch of Sao Mathias Prashant Harwalkar said that in 2016, Divar farmers harvested a bumper crop and nearly 250 tonnes of brown rice were exported.
He said, “This was a result of mechanised farming, which has been adopted for the first time on the island by three people. Reduced labour, less time involved and more produce encouraged us to go in for mechanised farming and now more people are adopting the technique.”
A former sarpanch Bhushan Bhomkar, who is a farmer, said that fields in Divar were abandoned by owners due to non-availability of labourers, high labour cost and due to the entry of saline water into the fields during monsoon. “Contractors of sluice gates and fishermen release the sluice gate water into the fields and render them unworthy of paddy cultivation. As such, the field owners stopped cultivating crops in their fields,” said Bhomkar adding that the forms submitted by the farmers for obtaining subsidy are lying with the government authorities but not yet passed by the concerned department.
Stating that Divar saw farming boom in the past and that every household was engaged in farming, sarpanch of Goltim-Navelim, Prasad Harmalkar, said that of recent farming has decreased to a large extent but added that mechanised farming has turned out to be a boon for the islanders. He blamed the sluice gate contractors for ruining paddy cultivation and promoting illegal fish farming, while rendering large tracts of farming land uncultivable due to the entry of saline water into the fields. Another farmer alleged that despite assurances by the government authorities to encourage farming, nothing concrete has been done.