Due to the cost of cultivation and scarcity of labourers, many have abandoned their land. As a result, patches of fallow land were left vacant with no agricultural activity, said Father Quadros. The project began five years ago by convincing community farmers to come together as part of collective farming. The first project of transplanting was on a 3,000 sq. meters of paddy field in Velsao, South Goa, through the initiative of the Don Bosco Loutolim Society, Goa Paddy. The results saw shrinking costs, and the harvest was plentiful. Eventually, more and more farmers used mechanized transplanting as it saved the farmers time, energy and 35 per cent less cost than the manual transplanting of paddy saplings. Thus, everyone is a winner, and vast fallow lands of Goa cultivated. A new agricultural revolution has begun in the state with over 150 hectares cultivated every season, said Father Quadros.