
The ubiquitous fish curry-rice has
given way to restaurants serving everything from imported artichokes to Punjabi
chhola-bhatura to chowmein noodles. Are Goan food tastes evolving or is this a
case of supply leading demand? Restaurants and cafes have, of course, been shut
down because of the Covid19 scare. Largely dependent on the burgeoning local
middle-class consumption and tourists, this sector is hurting quite badly and
needs a major rethink and some bold fresh ideas.
From tourists demanding more familiar
and palatable foods to locals looking for a change from their staple diets, the
food industry in Goa is rapidly evolving into a veritable bhelpuri of cuisines
imported from far and wide. This may not augur well for local food security in
the future.
Some of these foods are sourced
locally. Much of it comes from across our borders. Farm produce to processed
foods are all imported in from other states. Increasingly, despite all the
economic assistance given to fishermen, even the most staple of Goan food –
i.e. fish is imported from Maharashtra and Kerala and also all the way from
Vietnam! The pressure on Goa’s coastal waters from both the land side with
increasing pollutants and effluents entering the waters, as well as the sea
with large trawlers and fishing vessels, leaves very little fish for the local
fishermen. The local fishing industry is decimated. And most fishermen are
increasingly forced to turn over their boats for water sports and other
tourism-linked activities like dolphin watching. With even tourism in the
doldrums, where will they go now?
As of now, agriculture in Goa
contributes approximately 7per cent to the GDP of the State and it has been
recommended that it should be no less than 15 percent for the next three years
for a sustainable rural economy. There are supply and demand imbalances in
almost all subsectors. Grains can, of course, be stored, but what about fruits
and vegetables. These are prone to rapid deterioration. Goa has hardly any
temperature-controlled cold storage facilities. In the absence of such
facilities and no cold supply chain, much of this sort of produce rots very
rapidly. Farmers are then forced to sell at throwaway rates. The only solution
is food processing, either local food processing at or near the villages and
agricultural lands. Also welcome will be large-scale food processing at
convenient locations with an efficient supply chain. This could be a good
solution for jackfruit, kokum, tendli, coconut, mango.
Ideas For Goa conducted a webinar
on May 11 moderated By Rahul Basu. Panelists were Claude Alvares, Goa
Foundation; Shalini Krishnan, Edicble Archives; Arjun Gadre, MD, Gadre Marine
and Rohit Zantye, MD Zantye Cashews. Many ideas were generated live and these
can be accessed on our YouTube channel as well as Ideas For Goa. We urge you to
contribute your own ideas on the Ideas for Goa platform to be taken up for
execution.
Arjun Gadre, MD of Gadre Marine
urged the Government to consider converting 25 percent of the khazan lands to
aquaculture. “There are 18,500 hectares of khazan lands which are man-made
systems and not natural water systems. At a modest Rs. 350/kg for shrimp, we
could see a very large increase in output in the range of Rs 1200-2700 crores.
This is massive and can result in protein sufficiency as well as lift many
Goans out of poverty,” said Arjun Gadre.
Claude Alvares said, “Cashew is
largely untended trees and by definition, therefore organic. For other crops,
we could use some chemicals but not pesticides. So, we could develop a partially
organic brand called Goa Organic.”
Rohit Zantye said, “Cashew farmers
tend to neglect their trees and yields are very low – only 500 kgs/hectare.
With some intercropping with turmeric and pepper, we could get the farmers to
at least tend their lands better increasing yields to between 1000 and even as
high as 1500 kgs/hectare.”
Shalini Krishnan said, “Just having
the land is not good enough. If knowledge is also shared at the community
level, it will help tremendously.”
Rahul Basu urged all participants
to think of out-of-the-box ideas and contribute towards the upliftment of Goan
society as the ultimate goal of this exercise. The participants came up with
several fresh ideas and many more are expected to post onto www.ideasforgoa.com.
The Webinar was streamed live on Herald’s website and You Tube channel. The edited video will also be posted on Herald’s website and Facebook page shortly.