Photo Credit: Bharati Pawaskar
Intro:
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Its February, a time of the year when sweet potatoes make an arrival. And if you are lucky enough, you could prize your hands on this seasonal delight at a spot near Institute Menezes Braganza in Panaji.
These sweet potatoes organically grown at Ramdas Banavalikar's Nerul farm, are the talk of the town. Ramdas sits outside Vidyut Bhavan in Panaji, where people anxiously await him his arrival at exactly 4.30 pm. He even sometimes brings along a few boiled sweet potatoes for visitors to feast on during tea-time. And this treat is absolutely free “ for friends, acquaintances and even strangers!
For the past 40 years, Ramdas has been following a daily routine that lasts around 15 days in February. This is the time when the sweet potatoes that he sows in December, and exactly two months and eight days, are ready and mature to be dug out from the soil.
So what is so great about this man, one may wonder. 67-year-old Ramdas, a retired lower divisional clerk (LDC) at electricity department, has been religiously growing and selling organic sweet potatoes for the past 50 years in his 3,500 sq mts land, and has been a State award winner farmer, twice.
Ask him the secret of his tasty sweet potatoes, and pat comes the reply, “I use cow dung, cow urine, organic compost and Super Crop, a type of organic fertiliser made of cow waste.”
Born and brought up at Titawada, Nerul, Ramdas has been growing organic vegetables since he was a child, assisting his father, late Narayan Vitthal Banavalikar, in his agricultural activities and learning the finer nuances of organic farming.
“We used to grow at least 10 quintals of sweet potatoes during the good old days, which would fetch us Rs 2 per kilo. It was a routine “ to dig up the sweet potatoes, load it on bullock carts and transport to Shivoli, for sale,” recalls Ramdas, who quotes Rs 30-40 a kilo today.
He transports 45 kilos of bags on his scooter every day to Panaji for sale, and by the time he sells all the bags and leaves at around 6.30 -7 pm, he has pocketed Rs 1,400-1,500. So how does he manage to sell it all? And who are his buyers?
“Most of the time, all my bags get sold as I sell my produce at a throwaway price “ Rs 40 for one packet of a kilo or three for Rs 100,” he says while doing the math. And there are regular buyers who have been his customers for years.
Times may have changed. Ramdas now uses his scooter to transport his agricultural produce. But the one thing that has not changed is the unique taste of his sweet potatoes and the vegetables that he produces.
“This year, I have grown local vegetables such as Naab, Palak, Bhende, Tambdi Bhaji, Mule, Vangi and Mirchi. Apart from organic sweet potatoes, I also have cholesterol-free groundnuts,” he announces.
Ramdas purchases cholesterol-free groundnut seeds from Pune “ 200 kilos of - for his farm in Nerul. Those who know about his organic agricultural produce place orders.
“By the grace of God, I don’t have any difficulty in selling my produce as it fetches me a good price. I make a net profit of Rs 1 lakh a year only on seasonal vegetables. There is a lot of demand for organically-grown vegetables and fruits in Goa. Rich with acres of healthy agricultural land, our State can be self-sufficient in vegetables and milk production only if our farmers are motivated,” he quips.
Ramdas was declared ‘Best Farmer’ in 1998. He also won the Bardez Taluka Best Farmer award which earned him a certificate and Rs 10,000. Selling his sweet potatoes and other vegetables at the gate of the agricultural department in Dhuler, Mapusa, even at Panaji, for the past 40 years, this hardworking and God-fearing farmer does not shy away from tilling his land.
“The government must help farmers, offer guidance and assistance and provide storage facilities. The organic produce has great demand even in the foreign countries, and if agriculture is done in an appropriate way using organic manure, we can even export our produce to foreign countries,” he states optimistically.
Ramdas grows exotic vegetables viz coloured capsicum that has great demand from five-starred hotels, and all this is grown in the open, without using any shade or polyhouse. He also grows watermelons, onions and three types of local chilies. The agriculture department officials were regular visitors at his farm and appreciated his hard work and innovative methods. He was even invited several times to share his experience in farming to other farmers. However, his enthusiasm in growing exotic vegetables declined after meeting with a near-fatal accident two years ago.
A spiritually-inclined Ramdas shares his story “ “I was in coma, lying on the hospital bed for over two months. Doctors as well as my family had lost all hope of my recovery, but by God’s grace I got out of coma and here I am on my feet again. But though the accident has not dampened my spirits it has weakened me, so I have taken a break. I will start again once I am fit and fine.”
