Goa's khazan lands are its real treasure: Water resources department chief (ToI)

Goa's khazan lands are its real treasure: Water resources department chief TNN | Aug 10, 2013, 01.27 AM IST PANAJI: Goa's fertile khazan lands can become a food bowl for people for years to come if the lands are managed properly and old technology is blended with the new to evolve efficient mechanisms to manage the centuries-old system, SandeepNadkarni, chief engineer, water resources department, said. He was speaking during the session on 'Khazan ecosystems of Goa: Why and how should we conserve them' at a workshop organized by Centre for Environment and Natural Resource Management (CENRM), Srujan, in collaboration with International Centre, Goa (ICG), and under the aegis of United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF). Nadkarni said the land and water resources have to be put to optimum use and innovation in construction technology is needed for longer survival of the age-old system. Nadkarni traced the background of the khazan lands, which mainly comprises bundhs, sluice gate, 'poims' or water bodies and fields on elevated ground. They were reclaimed over centuries through construction of dykes and sluice gates. There is a length of 420 km of notified bundhs extending protection to about 17,500 hectares of land. "Around 50% of the bundhs are in bad shape while 25% require improvements," Nadkarni said. The dykes are constructed from marine clay extracted from mud flats and reinforced by dry paddy grass straw. "But the material is vulnerable to attacks of marine animal organisms, which bear holes in the structure," he said. The breaches widen within a few days and it is important for farmers to repair them to prevent contamination of wells. The age-old use of the marine clay has become difficult due to the shortage of labour and problem of carrying it in canoes. "We have tried red 'murram' soil, which has good shear quality but its binding quality is not as good," he said. The traditional management system under the 'gaunkaris' was efficient. "After liberation, the land revenue code came into effect and the whole system has slumped into a limbo," he said. Nadkarni said the formation of the Goa khazan land development board is in the pipeline. "Some problems could be solved," he said. The fisheries and the agriculture departments could work together and devise an 'integrated plan' to practice aquaculture, paddy cultivation, horticulture and even dairy farming across the khazans, to prevent the fertile marshlands from going to waste, said Sharmila Monteiro, director of fisheries. "If the khazans are not used productively, or if they are just inundated and left, they are at risk of mangrove infestation. Mangroves may be the nursery grounds for the fisheries, but we should not let them take over the khazans," she added.