BHARATI PAWASKAR
The rain has touched all time high of 137.48” until now in the state and the weather department’s forecast predicts more. Most dams are overflowing and many areas are still on high alert. Farmers are already expressing concern. Even in September, the incessant downpour seems unstoppable. While the agriculture department is still assessing the extent of the damage to various crops, some of the farmers have already declared this year as a year of loss. While paddy is the most hit crop for most, some have lost their bananas while others areca nuts. As these are annual crops, the loss is greater as the income for the entire year is washed away.
An experimental farmer, Varad Samant’s bhendi (okra) plants may have suffered a loss due to the saturated rainwater but he has not lost hopes. Varad had sowed bhendi seeds in a two-acre plot in Dabhal Dharbandora in June this year, but the plants remained in water for four days in July-August and the entire crop of approximately 10 tonne (which would have fetched him Rs 3 lakh) was damaged.
“But prior to that, in March, I had harvested 20 tonne bhendi and already sold it,” announces 27-year-old Varad who admits that the vegetable crops are likely to get spoilt with too much or too little rain, but one can make profits with immediate next crop, as the duration between one vegetable crop and second is less. “In Goa the farmers are assured of the minimum rate at which the government purchases their produce through Horticulture department. So we fetch at least that much amount, provided the crop survives bad weather,” adds Varad who will be planting bhendi again soon after mid-September to take crop in Diwali.
Varad claims to be the first farmer to cultivate carrots in Goa and succeed. Beginning to prepare the soil in a 1000 sq mt plot, making it soft by adding cow dung and poultry manure Varad succeeded in taking 1.5 tonne carrot crop in 2017. Next year he again sowed carrots which are in demand in December-January when the state gets tourist flow. But the crop failed. Undeterred, he again chose carrots. Now, for the past two years Varad harvested a total of 18 tonnes carrot. The prices of Goa State Horticulture Corporation are fixed and it purchases large amount of produce from the farmers.
A commerce graduate and the only son of his parents, Varad did not opt for any job, but dared to take a plunge into cultivating his 10 acre fallow ancestral land in 2014. His father grew coconuts and areca nuts in the mining belt and some land was still fallow, which he gave for cultivating. Why did Varad choose to grow vegetables? In 2013 his father had planted sugarcane. “It needs lot of water. The crop is yearly. By the time it’s sold and the money returns another six months are gone. That’s why I chose vegetables as I can take three to four crops in a year,” says Varad who began with bhendi in 2014. One acre land gave him three tonne crop, and his investment was recovered. Next he planted chilies in one acre. The return was eight tonne. In 2017 he got 35 tonne chilies from two acres. After that he tried carrots. Now he has 10 full-time helpers who work all the year round in his farm. He owns all mechanical equipment including tractor, drip irrigation, power-tiller and electric-fencing. “It is not difficult to earn a decent income through agriculture for anyone who has a piece of land in Goa,” says Varad whose next trial will be with cabbage and tomatoes.
Varad is an example of young modern farmer in Goa. He currently uses 80 per cent organic manure and 20 per cent chemical fertilisers, but aims to go 100 per cent organic by 2020. Farming is turning lucrative in the state and more youth like Varad who are not ashamed to toil in the soil are embracing agriculture which is heart-warming.
