Goa: Week-long rain leaves crops damaged in Divar, farmers morose

DIVAR: For the fourth year in a row, Rama Velingkar has seen his crops destroyed as the weather gods played havoc. The ageing farmer from Sao Mathias village of Divar island says this paddy crops have been spoiled year after year either due to heavy rainfall or ingress of saline water but his pleas to the powers that be to do something have fallen on deaf ears.
As the week-long spell of heavy showers ebbs, farmers like Velingkar can only watch as their transplanted paddy seedlings either float or rot in the inundated fields.
For paddy cultivators, they get just one shot every year to grow rice, usually the Jyoti or Jaya variety. Already struggling with low profits, increased labour costs and small land holdings, farmers also have to deal with erratic rainfall and damaged bunds.
Suryakant Harichandra Bomkar from Sao Mathias, which is also known as Malar, remembers the time when all his ancestral fields were yielding a good crop. Upset by consecutive agricultural setbacks he has given up farming.
“For four years I lost everything, almost Rs 50,000 each year. This year I planted rice in one small patch but the heavy rains have flooded my field. If I am lucky, it may be saved,” Velingkar said.
Local farmers say that government officials come to inspect their fields but despite running from pillar to post and following up with officials, nothing gets done. They have also said that they never receive any compensation from the government for their agricultural losses.
“The government officials come, ministers come, they see the situation and they say that a report will be prepared. We have never seen any report. The government asked us to submit a photo of us in our fields, which we did but nothing,” Bomkar said.
Rohidas Krishna Mandrekar, who heads the local Xetkari Sangathan, is frustrated and living in penury after seeing his hard work get washed away for three consecutive years.
“This is the first time that I did not grow anything. I am fed up. Everything gets spoiled because of the rain, strong wind which knocks everything down. The water comes over the bund and washes away whatever we plant,” Mandrekar said.
Local activist and documentary director Amancio Tomas Rodrigues said that the bunds have been destroyed due to the movement of high-speed vessels along the river. The movement of watersports craft and pleasure crafts, which create a high wake, have weakened the bunds, which subsequently collapse with heavy rainfall, Rodrigues said.
“Our main problem is the bund because of which water enters into our fields. When the water level rises, it weakens the bund or where the bunds are already damaged, the saline water flows in,” Rodrigues added.