Villages near sea shores are usually assumed to be abundant with water availability. However, the abundance of salt water can turn out to be bad for agricultural produce. Similarly, when fresh water mixes with salt water it repulses the salt water fishes away into deeper seas.

This was the situation of a village in Goa. A Sluice gate plays the role of keeping fresh water and salt water separate from each other. However, the existing Sluice gate was not serving the purpose which was affecting the agricultural produce of 60 farmers. This situation prevailed for an extended period of 5 years.

Additionally the fishing rights of a Sluice gate are auctioned to fisherman which also acts as an additional income source for the farmers. Moreover, fishing is the primary source of income for many people who reside near coastal regions.

The most interesting part of this story is that everybody was able to overcome their differences and got united to make this happen. Remarkably, all the farmers within the “Ujato Farmers Association” contributed towards the repair and reconstruction of this Sluice Gate.

This year (2021) the Sluice gate fishing rights were auctioned at Rs.60, 000 (for this season). Over and above that 60 farmers benefitted by resuming their agricultural production. 

Thanking Note from the farmers’ association 

The repair work of Sluice gate, which was pending from past 5 years was taken care under this project. We would like to thank the facilitators for giving priority to farmers. Farmers of the farmers ‘association are getting motivation for agriculture, said Dilip Ghadi, secretary of the Ujato farmers’ association.