PANAJI: Goa will soon witness use of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for encouraging the local farmers and cultivators to cultivate their fallow paddy fields as well as agricultural lands.
The state government proposes to soon fix the labour rates for labourers working in such fallow areas. The fallow field cultivation aspect of the MGNREG scheme will be handled by the rural development mechanism of the state government. The scheme aims at enhancing the livelihood of people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage employment in a financial year to a rural household, whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work.
It was informed that the financially backward farmers as well as cultivators including those belonging to the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, backward classes and below poverty line group, who are not able to cultivate their fallow paddy fields and agricultural lands, will have to forward such proposals to the respective village panchayats. After receiving a green signal from the village panchayats, such proposals have to be forwarded to the rural development agency through block development officers for final approval.
The fallow field cultivation aspect of the MGNREG scheme will also help in cultivation of horticultural crops, including vegetables and fruits. The owners of the fallow lands availing this aspect of the central scheme will also have to work along with the hired labourers for which they would be entitled for wages. Goa witnesses cultivation of vegetables not only during monsoon but also in summer. However, of late, many local cultivators have stopped cultivating vegetables during summer due to financial difficulties.
The labour rates will be finalised with the assistance of the public works department. Using this MGNREG scheme for cultivating fallow agricultural lands is expected to benefit farmers and cultivators from Pernem, Quepem, Sanguem, Bicholim, Canacona and Salcete talukas. The Gujarat government has already made use of the MGNREG scheme for this purpose. Meanwhile, around 275 projects have been completed in the state under this scheme, which include construction of gutters, embankments, compounds and so on. However, the scheme would now also be used for supporting the agricultural activities. The scheme, earlier known as National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, has now been renamed as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
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