When statistics hide more than they reveal (Herald)

When statistics hide more than they reveal July 18, 2013 TEAM HERALD PANJIM: The area under cropping for Goa’s staple food ~ rice ~ has come down but only modestly over the last 4-5 years according to Agriculture Department figures. In 2005-06 the area under cultivation was 52,177 hectares (ha) and in 2012-13 it had reduced to 45, 830 ha. But insiders contest this figure vigorously and say it would be closer to 25,000 ha if an actual survey is taken ~ they point, especially, to the surprising reduction in yield per kg per ha in crops like rice and even cashew nut. Yield in kg per hectare in 2012-13 for rice was 2,680 kgs as opposed to 2,822 kgs in 2005-06; and the production of rice has dropped from 1,47,253 tonnes in 2005-06 to 1,22,824 tonnes in 2012-13 despite touted improvement in techniques, better seeds and technological improvements including mechanization. Even more surprising is that though official figures say that the area under cashew cultivation has actually increased in 2012-13 from 2005-06, from 55,021 to 55,747, the yield has dropped to 23,804 tonnes from 27,070 tonnes with the yield in kg per hectare reducing from 492 to 427. The State, meanwhile, has been hit by protests over two Regional Plans ~ one was cancelled and one has been held in "abeyance" after being notified. And successive governments have been wracked by protests on the basis of visible-to-the-naked eye non-agricultural activities on paddy fields and the like, as a series of investigative reports in Herald over the past few days has brought out. Under our very noses, all kinds of commercial activities in fields situated in prime, eco-sensitive areas have been allowed or a blind eye turned to them. Village groups have been vocal in pointing out instances where fields have been filled, closing traditional waterways and leading to mini-floods in across Goa including in areas bordering the capital Panjim. Additionally, wherever one travels in the State one can see fields that are not being cultivated; and, say activists and common folk alike, it is just not possible that there is such a small decrease in cultivated land as the official figures make out. “In 2005, change in zones was stopped. Now conversion can take place if the land is under settlement area,” Chief Town Planner ST Puttturaju said. According to the authorities, before 2005, conversion of agricultural land was based on two criteria ~ first, if the land came under the regional plan and secondly, on a "case-to-case basis". This second criteria had led to a lot of allegations and counter-allegations. According to the law under 18 K of the Tenancy Act, if the tenant has purchased the land at a reduced rate and is declared as a deemed owner, then only he is allowed to cultivate. “Now, under the new RP, you cannot touch these areas at all,” stresses Putturaju, arguing that no approvals are being given. However, he does concede that "there is a lot of fallow land that can be seen". When Herald spoke to several land owners on why they preferred to leave their land fallow, they were categorical in stating that they had lost a lot of land to tenants and mundkars and there was no way they would allow it to be cultivated. “We have lost a lot of land. People come and ask for it very nicely and when we give it they refuse to leave," said Maria dos Anjos Sr. Another landowner, speaking on condition of anonymity, said bitterly that people are being backed by politicians for vote-banks and that all sorts of illegal activities are allowed on agricultural land. "I am in no mood to lose the little land that I have, especially as mundkars are now becoming bhatkars; they usurp the land and then sell it to builders,” he said. Allegations that documents are routinely forged when it comes to agricultural land have been doing the rounds for years now. And given the slowness of the judicial system wherein cases take decades to be decided, the future for Goa's fields looks bleak.