As climate change hits agri, some parishes cultivate paddy patches solely for Novidade | Goa News

Panaji: With agriculture facing a grim challenge from saline water flooding, climate change conditions and neglect, Tiswadi’s harvest festival Novidade saw subdued celebrations, as the ceremonial crop blessing serves as a sad reminder of waning farming traditions.
This religio-cultural festivity was held in most Tiswadi parishes on Aug 24. The parishioners walk in a procession to a paddy field, the corn is cut, gathered in sheaves to be blessed by the parish priest and Eucharist service follows at the church.
But the happiness quotient in holding the centuries-old festival, also called by some as ‘Prothom Follanchi Porob’ (Feast of first produce), is dimming. Some parishes have to borrow corn for the event, making it a dull ritual, villagers say. A slight consolation is the evolving trend of some parishes growing the paddy in compounds of churches solely for the festival.
Most parish priests in their homily exhorted the faithful to accept the challenge of reviving agriculture. “We must remember God is the creator and He created everything good. He expects us to preserve our land, especially in the circumstances of destruction taking place in the name of development,” Fr Antonio Albuquerque, Goa Velha parish priest said.
In Mandur, after blessing the corn grown in the Our Lady of Amparo church compound, parish priest Fr Manuel Gomes cautioned those present about the ramifications of burying fields and flattening hills.
“A few hundred cases of hill cutting have been registered. We are interfering with nature and stripping nature of trees will result in droughts or excess rainfall,” he said.
Fields in nearby Azossim have been submerged for many years due to breaches to the main bundh on Cumbharjua canal. “We raised the paddy in the church compound this year for blessing because some farmers stopped growing their fields due to stray cattle and birds raiding the crops,” Antonio Fernandes, attorney of Azossim church Fabrica said.
In Goa Velha, the paddy crop in front of the church was damaged by miscreants. In some other areas, torrential rain affected the cultivation.
Farmers said that govt needs to undertake repairs of the weak bundh network and clear the fields submerged in vegetation. “Vast areas in a few villages, especially Carambolim, have been under water for two decades. A major initiative is required to clear the mangroves,too,” a farmer said.

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