Converting just 25% of khazan lands to aquaculture could yield over 1200 crores

Bhelpuri of cuisines detrimental to Goa’s food security, Goa Organic needs to be a brand
Converting just 25% of khazan lands to aquaculture could yield over 1200 crores
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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.

Herald Goa
www.heraldgoa.in