Staff Reporter

Margao

In a bid to make Chinchinim village self-reliant in vegetable production, villagers along with the local comunidade and the biodiversity committee have taken up cultivation of vegetables ranging from brinjal, cluster beans, tomatoes to lady fingers as a pilot project and they have already started yielding
good output.

Comunidade president Agnelo Furtado, who is also the president of the Chinchinim Farmers Club, said the vegetable cultivation has been taken up for the first time in 30 years on a fallow patch of land.

“Few enthusiasts, despite their job commitments, came together to grow vegetables. We are getting necessary support from the Agriculture Department, Water Resources Department, panchayat of Chinchinim and the biodiversity committee to realise the goal of self-sufficiency in vegetable
production,” he said.

Besides the government backing, he said Fr George Quadros, who is known as the ‘Paddy Man of Goa’, has also been instrumental in guiding
the farmers.

He said over three lakh square meters of fields have been brought under vegetable cultivation for the first time and more land is available for taking up the cultivation on a large scale. He said the farmers have grown watermelons, lady finders, brinjal, cluster beans, chillies, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach, radish and local leafy vegetables like tambdi and dovi bahji among others.

Fr Quadros said the Don Bosco institute will extend full support to the people of Chinchinim in their endeavour to make the village self-sufficient.

“We hope this project inspires more people of Chinchinim to grow vegetables,” said Julius Furtado.