PANAJI
Anjuna may have earned the reputation of being the capital of wild parties and made it to the news for all the wrong reasons but a son of the village Gaspar Fernandes has dreams of seeing the fields there turn into a sea of gold.
Fernandes is excited that his over two months of hard labour will soon (by Saturday) earn him rich dividends when he harvests the marigolds he has cultivated so they are available in time for the Dusshera festival.
Fernandes told The Goan that he expects to harvest at least six quintals of the highly sought flowers during Dusshera and that almost all of it is already pre-booked.
Like Fernandes, there are hundreds of other farmers who have experimented with marigolds instead of paddy in their fields in Bardez, Sanguem and Quepem besides other regions, sources in the Agriculture department said.
In fact, marigold cultivation, has been a rare success story in Goa's agricultural arena with a huge surge in numbers, both in terms of farmers involved as well as output, over the last couple of years.
Marigolds are in high demand for Dusshera and the subsequent Diwali festival and farmers like Fernandes time their sowing so that the crop can be harvested in time for the festival.
"The flower takes about 62 days to bloom and be ready for harvesting. So we have to time the cultivation accordingly," Fernandes said.
According to Director of Agriculture, Sandeep Fol Desai, this year the area dedicated to cultivating marigold has remained stagnant in the 25 to 30 hectares range, according to preliminary estimates.
"The yield too may remain the same as last year or could be a tad lower because initially there were reports that due to the excessive rain, seedlings were water-logged and rotted," Fol Desai said.
The Agriculture Department has estimated that collectively, the approximately 300 farmers who opted for marigold cultivation, will produce around 100-120 tonnes of marigold this year.
The State's requirements, however, are much higher and sources in the department involved in mentoring these farmers said it may take a few more years to convince a larger mass of farmers to join the revolution and make Goa 'swayampurna' (self-sufficient) in marigold flowers.
The Agriculture Department provides marigold farmers a subsidy of up to Rs 75,000 per hectare besides ensuring that its officials often visit the field to check on these areas where marigold is cultivated to check for problems and provide advice. Gaspar Fernandes of Anjuna vouches for these bonafides of the agriculture department officials.
