Project addresses challenges faced by Khazan region 

(MissionNewswire) Salesian Father George Quadros from Don Bosco Agriculture Unit is ferrying modern farming equipment across flooded terrain, according to a recent article in the Herald Goa in India. The project is addressing the challenges faced by a region that has not had large-scale mechanized farming due to the waterlogged lands.

The ambitious project covers land in Corjem, at the far end of Curtorim in the Khazans, the coastal wetlands of Goa. In the article, Fr. Quadros said, “We have taken a project as a challenge more than anything else. Because nobody would dare to put machinery in the Khazan lands on a big scale, maybe 4,000 square meters as demo plots. We have done that in the past. But this time we are attacking one lakh (one hundred) square meters of Khazans and all by machinery.”

Getting the machines there was the first step, well before the planting even started. Choosing the right transportation was important.

“We had a little problem transporting the machine and then we are transporting the nursery,” Fr. Quadros explained in the article. “And that we have succeeded very well because the locals have given us a canoe, and especially when we are transporting the machinery, the locals themselves paddle the boat across to the other piece of land across.”

Salesian programs across India are primarily focused on education. Other programs help to support poor youth and their families by meeting the basic needs of shelter, proper nutrition and medical care.

India has the world’s fourth largest economy but more than 22% of the country lives in poverty. About 31% of the world’s multidimensionally poor children live in India, according to a report by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.

India’s youth face a lack of educational opportunities due to issues of caste, class and gender. Almost 44% of the workforce is illiterate and less than 10% of the working-age population has completed a secondary education. In addition, many secondary school graduates do not have the knowledge and skills to compete in today’s changing job market.

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Sources:

Herald Goa – Goa’s ‘Paddy Man’ innovates farming in Curtorim’s khazans, uses canoes to ferry machinery

Salesian Missions – India

World Bank – India