DBCA CHiMERA www.donboscocollegeofagriculture.com

Don Bosco College Of Agriculture, Sulcorna Thoda hatt ke!!

Going down the memory lane at DBCA …

Goa’s first Agriculture College began life in Sulcorna with the batch of forty students from 3rd

August, 2015, with an

orientation programme for students and their parents to know about the B.Sc. (Agri.) degree course of four years. Miguel

Braganza Sir anchored the programme. The Director of college, Fr. Felix Serrao sdb, welcomed the gathering, the Rector of

community at Sulcorna, Fr. Bernardino de Almeida, led the prayer and the Provincial of Panjim-Konkan, Fr. Ian Figueiredo,

delivered his address; Principal Dr. Cassie Rodrigues and Mr. Miguel Braganza made power point presentation on the

scope and their plans for the college in upcoming years. We were introduced to all the other staff members: Er. Sumati

Chavan. Mr. Satish Patil, Mr. Sidhant Naik, Ms. Sulochana Xete Desai, Mr. Kisan Fal Desai and Ms. Jovina Fernandes. We

even got the chance to listen to the inspiring speeches from great dignitaries like Dr. H.Y. Karapurkar, Presidenmt of the

Botanical Society of Goa & former Director of Agriculture, and Dr. Ajit Shirodkar, Chairman of the Western Ghats Kokum

Foundation. They were an inspiration to us.

Orientation day at DBCA….. Students and Staff Visit to Mary’s Mount and first steps towards learning,

On the second day that is on 4th

August we had a field trip organized by Miguel Braganza Sir and our officiating Principal

Dr. Cassie Rodrigues wherein we were showed the farm, the dairy, the river and the statue of Mother Marry on the mount

from where we could see our entire campus.

From 5th

August we began with our regular lectures of first semester which included subjects like Production Technology of

Fruit Crops, Principles of Agronomy, Plant Pathology, Agricultural Meteorology, Introductory Agriculture, Environmental

Science, Introduction to Soil Science, Livestock Production and Management, Fundamentals of Rural Sociology and

Educational Psychology, and Physical Education. Along with these nine subjects we had deficiency mathematics for those

who did not study Maths in Std. XII. These subjects were very new to us which made us more eager to learn them with

greater interest and curiosity. By the end of the month, the term “Fortunate Forty” is how we came to be described by all:

us and others!

Celebration time….

The “Fortunate Forty” came together for the first time as a team and planned a small program for celebration of Teachers’

Day on 5th September, when all teachers and staff members were pleasantly surprised by our efforts. During this gesture we

missed our soil science Satish Patil Sir who left us and returned to his old college in Karad. One student had also left and we

were actually thirty-nine but still the “Fortunate Forty” for all.

Teachers’ Day celebration organized by the Fortunate Forty. Soil Science session at ICAR-CCARI, Ela Farm, Old Goa

Back to learning…

To continue with our learning of soil science and to get acquainted with lab equipments we were taken to ICAR-CCARI,

Ela Farm, Old Goa where Dr. Gopal Mahajan briefed us on the subject and explained the use of various soil testing

equipment, instruments and tools in the well-equipped soil science laboratory of ICAR-CCARI.

A Red Letter Day for DBCA-Sulcorna …

The grand day for Fortunate Forty and everyone else at DBCA-Sulcorna dawned on 17th October, 2015, and our college was

formally inaugurated on by Shri. Laxmikant Parsekar, Honourable Chief Minister of Goa. He had approved the

establishment of the college soon after he assumed the post in November, 2014. Each of the students showcased their talents

by doing various projects and posters under the guidance of respective subject teacher. The event was anchored by the

students, who successfully did all the announcements and the narration at the inaugural function and justified the trust that

their teachers had reposed in them. It was appreciated by all. The event was captured digitally by Mr. Clive D’Souza, as still

photos and video, and telecast to a larger audience.

A Historic moment … inauguration of the college A visit to Eco Farms and Bubbles Lake in Netravali

In the celebration of job done well, we were taken to visit Budd’ buddeanchi Toli or bubble lake near Gopinath temple in

Netravali and Dr. Narayan B. Dessai’s, Chinmay Tansikar’s Eco farm and Chowgule’s Mangal farm, where we had a great

fun and leant a lot about plants and their varieties.

Exam time….

We had our first ISA (Intra Semester Assessment) exam in November after completion of exam we visited ICAR, old Goa to

learn about ASDS course for which our college was lacking in faculty.The officiating Principal Dr. Cassie Rodrigues and

Miguel Sir, took us for a little sight- seeing around the historic city of Old Goa after the grueling session of learning animal

sciences.

ASDS session at ICAR, old Goa Sight-seeing at Old Goa

With fun and excitement we were going with our daily schedule course from theory, lectures to lab and field along with

our journal completion, we arrived to the end of our semester with first SEA exam which began on 11th of December. Then

we breaked for our Christmas vacation with a small celebration of christmas in our college on the last day of our exam.

SEA Exams of 1st semester Christmas celebration at DBCA

2nd semester

We began with our second semester from 3rd January2016 with introduction to some new subjects like Agricultural

Microbiology, water management including micro irrigation, Fundamentals of soil and water conservation engineering,

statistics, Principles of genetics, soil science and NSS.

Playing hard….

Our P.E. Sir Mr. Santosh Patil encouraged us to play various indoor and outdoor games to build our selves physically strong

and fit. In that process he trained a boys volleyball team and girls handball team to play inter college tournament under

Goa University. Where in the boys lost the game as they were new to it. Whereas girls to their luck won the third place for

which they had been given a small treat by Sir Miguel Braganza by taking them to the chandreshwar temple at gudi

paroda, Quepem-Goa. Where we enjoyed a lot.

Boys Volleyball and Girls’ Handball team of DBCA… Trip to Chandreshwar temple at Quepem Goa…

Result of 1st semester 2015,

As we were very excited to know our performance of first semester exam, the day had arrived on 12th March 2016

wherein our parents were called to collect our result and for which a small programme was arranged in which Sir, Miguel

Braganza made a PowerPoint presentation to explain the grading system and importance of studying agriculture in day to

day life. Along with teachers, staff members and Director of college Fr. Felix Serrao, Fr.Amandio Valladares, Parish Priest of

Tilamol was chief guest for the day.

Exposure towards exhibitions…

The DBCA Sulcorna for the first time participated in the Agri. Expo held at Ravindra Bhavan Margao, under the guidance of

Miguel Braganza sir, Dr. Cassie Rodrigues Ma’am, along with Mrs. Saloni Vanjari Ma’am, Mrs. Sumati Chavan Ma’am and

some students. Wherein they displayed the Khamba used to prepare compost from kitchen waste, posters made by

students, insect trap, pesticide and fungicide.

Agri. Expo at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao 12thMarch, 2016, Results Day…

N.S.S. Practical

In the second semester, we were introduced to NSS. We worked together as a TEAM to our full strength, from cleaning

the river by lifting the big logs of wood, picking plastics from roadside and made ring and basins for coconut trees.

Working hard to keep the Mother Nature clean

Soil science practical at ICAR-CCARI, Old Goa…

As our college was lacking in soil science lab equipments we were not be able to complete our practical portion in SSAC-

122. So we were taken to ICAR-CCARI, Old Goa where Dr. Gopal Mahajan and our Rajesh Jagam Sir briefed and explained

us about the principles and theory behind the experiments of determination of Nitrogen and Phosphorus from soil

samples and even thought us how to use the apparatus like Nitrogen analyzer , flame photometer, spectrophotometer

Soil science practical at ICAR, Old Goa Visit to KVK North-Goa

Visit to KVK…

We visited KVK (Krishi Vigyan Kendra or Farmers’ Science Centre) North-Goa managed by ICAR-CCARI on 21stApril 2016

as a part of Extension (EXTN-121) practical where Mr. Shashi Vishwakarma explained us about the mandate of KVK, soil

health card and showed us the vermicomposting unit. Ms. Sunetra Talaulikar showed us the virgin coconut oil project and

even explained the extension programs for women on nutrition etc. The treasurer of the Botanical Society of Goa, Omar

de Souza, showed us the hi-tech agri. demonstration plots as well as the Orchidarium and the Anthurium Net house.

Konkan Fruit Fest….

Again a very good experience at KFF from 22nd to 24th April at Campal Panjim, where top ten students were given the

opportunity to be the volunteers to explain the activities taking place in college, lesser know fruits like the Indian Cherry or

Karonda(Carissa carandas], Churna [Zizyphus rugosa], Chara, Jungli Badam [Sterculia foetida], etc to the visitors. Our stay

was fully sponsored and we enjoyed the dinner at the Alankar Food Court in Mapusa as well as the visit to the Panjim

Street Festival at the Garcia da Orta Municipal Garden, Panjim.

Student Volunteers at KFF in Campal Panjim, with some of the Staff members…

SEA Exams of 2nd Semester

We began with our semester End Assessment examination from 9th May 2016. First we had theory exam which lasted up

to 18th May and then we began with our practical exams from 20thMay to 27thMay.For our extension practical we did

posters on various topics which could give a good message towards the reader . On 27th May, Miguel Braganza Sir gave us

a treat of snacks as a it was our last day at DBCA in first year we were very excited to go home.

The first year of B.Sc.(Agri.) course had came to an end for Fortunate Forty with the great joy and experiences in various

fields. We even got knowledge and exposure which no other college would able to give their students all thanks to the

DBCA members and our teaching staff who made every effort for us to understand the subject better and get better

facilities to make our learning easy.

We look forward to another year at the DBCA-Sulcorna after this six weeks long Summer/Monsoon vacation and to meet

the students of the next batch that will join us on 18 July, 2016.

Editor: Priyanka Parab

Don Bosco College Of Agriculture, Sulcorna Ph. 9421414268