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[ TGF foreword: This
is one more attempt by the Indian Press esp in Goa to lie blatantly
about the Portuguese. Who was this ignoramus who wrote this Navhind
Times editorial replete with falsities? Not......"Raul"......we
hope! ]
Not So, Mr.
Editor of the Navhind Times.
Fernando do
Rego
Fernando
do Rego B.Sc.Agri
Rtd. Jt. Director of Agriculture
Pangim 403.001.Goa tel: 22.6353
e-mail –
“fernandodorego@yahoo.com
June 21, 2001
To The Editor, Navhind Times.
Pangim, Goa,
DEFENDING THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Sir,
As one of the few officers still alive and kicking, who served the
Department of Agriculture, both during the Portuguese regime and after
Liberation, please permit me some comments to your editorial (NHT.June
15).
It is unfair and inaccurate to say that ” the Portuguese never even
once during the four and half centuries of their occupation of Goa
encouraged agriculture”, even though they could and should have done
far more.
These are some facts:
The first Department of Agriculture as such in Asia was established
in Goa by the Marquis of Pombal, when he was the P.M. (Portugal).,
on 21st April 1771.
In the same way the first canning factory in India was
established in Margao by Bernardo Francisco da Costa in
1885
.
Two centuries before that GARCIA DE ORTA came to India in
1563,
and settled in Bombay near Mahim, studied our flora and wrote the “COLLOQUIOS”,
a detailed report of the medicinal value of some thirty seven plants.
This work turned to be the foundation stone of all the botanic studies
in India( Vide Flora of Goa,Diu, Daman, Dadra and Nagaraveli" pg.ii- by
Rolla Seshagiri Rao) followed by a large number of botanists from Lineu
downwards who established the Latin nomenclature.
There are in India some
ten plants
of the Gutiferae family that carry his name, and for us in Goa, the
“GARCInea indica,L” is the most important as it is the red-mango, so
essential for our cuisine.
His name was also given to the Municipal Gardens of Pangim, and it has
remained there, because all agree that the worthiness of
Garcia de Orta
is high above our anti-colonial feelings. He was serving mankind with
his scientific talent and not the imperialism of his Portugal.
The Portuguese also introduced in Goa the
grafting of mangoes,
a technique for vegetative propagation, common in their motherland, but
till then totally unknown in India, and which revolutionised the mango
cultivation in our country.
Whatever may have been the political designs of the Portuguese not to
encourage agriculture in Goa as visualised in your editorial, it is not
fair also to state, that they paid less attention to it before
Liberation.
In fact, agriculture made tremendous strides precisely during that
period, under the direction of a dynamic anti-Salazar and pro-India
personality ,the late eng.
ANTONIO MADUREIRA,
because Vassalo e
Silva wanted to
counter the
unfortunate economic blockade imposed by Nehru,
which was a total failure.
As you rightly point out, after Liberation, the Department of
Agriculture could have done far more, but various legislative measures
taken by the Govt. came in the way. However, one must not forget
that despite those failures, various other very effective decisions were
taken and implemented like the introduction of high yielding
varieties of paddy, the cane cultivation and the
establishment of the sugar factory, the increase in milk
production, training of farmers, scholarships for agriculture
graduation, the supply of improved seeds and fertilizers, farmers
study tours, the soil analysis laboratory etc,etc.
It is certainly “very encouraging indeed to see Mr.Shripad Naik, the
Union Union Minister for Agriculture, trying hard to develop agriculture
in Goa.” We, the retired officers of the old regime and the present
administration and those still working in the Department, wish him good
luck.
FERNANDO DO REGO
June 21, 2001
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