State government to undertake crop survey

by RAMNATH RAIKAR
Posted on 2009-01-23
PANAJI — The government, following the concern expressed by the Task Force entrusted to prepare the draft Regional Plan 2021 as regards rampant conversions of agricultural lands into commercial ones, has decided to undertake state crop survey, at the earliest.
The Collector (North Goa), Mr Mihir Vardhan speaking to ‘The Navhind Times’ on Thursday said that the said survey, which would be carried out by the department of revenue, will provide an “important fundamental statistics” to the government, about the agricultural details in Goa. “Such survey was a regular feature until 1986 when it was suddenly stopped,” he added.
Speaking further, Mr Vardhan informed that the survey would be carried out from the point of view of the revenue department and would include implementation of legislations pertaining to the agricultural lands, actual utility of agricultural land by the registered tenants, records of right as regards agricultural land, and so on. “The study will further identify the farmers growing crops, the type of crops cultivated by them, the amount of crops, etc, besides the size of dry land, wet land and cultivable fallow land in the state,” he pointed out.
The proposal to undertake this survey has been already approved by the government Mr Vardhan said adding that special handheld electronic devices called Simputers would be procured by the government for carrying out the survey.
Simputer, an acronym for “simple, inexpensive and multilingual people’s computer”, is a self-contained, open hardware handheld computer designed for use in environments where computing devices such as personal computers are deemed inappropriate.
Simputers worth Rs 29 lakh would be bought by the government for the survey. Meanwhile, 194 talathis from the state would be entrusted with the task of carrying out the survey and will have to go on the field for which they would receive an additional honorarium of Rs 2,000 per month.
Mr Vardhan stated that the information collected in the simputers in the form of electronic data would then be uploaded in the computer, which in turn would automatically be added to the form XIV. “The form XIV would therefore be updated as regards status of the agricultural land, mode of irrigation, crops cultivated and so on,” he maintained.
“The survey would start from the next monsoon crop,” Mr Vardhan concluded. The survey would also help a scheme recently approved by the Board of Directors of the Goa State Horticulture Development Corporation (GSHDC) which aims to bring fallow land under cultivation. The scheme allows the GSHDC to take fallow land on lease from a willing landlord and then lease it out to NGO or a group on contract for ten years; ideally, a group or an NGO having to identify fallow land in the village and a willing landowner.
Meanwhile, the data made available in the book ‘Aspects of the Agricultural Activity, in Goa, Daman and Diu’, published by the government in the year 1967, informs, “The district of Goa with a total area of 3,61,114 Ha has about 90.4 per cent of the area that is 3,26,672 Ha utilised for agricultural purpose.”
The book, making available facts about agriculture in Goa immediately after Liberation of the region from the colonial rule states, “Besides these 3,26,672 Ha it may be noted that there is also a vast land known as ‘logradouro comum’ occupying an area of 1,304 Ha and which is used as pasture lands, cemeteries and crematories. This area is generally situated on hill sides where the pasture grows as a gift from the nature.” “The distribution of agricultural area in Goa includes 68,480 Ha (20.96 per cent) for food crops like paddy and khusky, and 60,450 Ha (18.51 per cent) for tree crops such as coconut, cashew, areca nut, sugar cane, bamboo plantation and fruits,” the book informs pointing out, “the forest area in Goa is 1,05,295 Ha (32.29 per cent), cultivable fallow land is 92,367 Ha (28.28 per cent) and garden crops as well as flower garden/ vegetables cover 79 Ha area (0.02 per cent).”
However, the agricultural scenario in Goa at the time of Liberation has undergone a sea change by 2009 with the number of people involved in agriculture having come down from 64 to 16 per cent. Presently talukas like Sattari, Pernem, Bardez, Tiswadi, Ponda, Salcete, Quepem, Sanguem and Canacona have paddy fields and plantations of various tree crops but the produce has drastically reduced as per the information provided by the agricultural department.