20 Mar 2023  |   05:27am IST

Guirim's Dilip Lotlikar, 70, gave up retirement to answer the call of the soil

Anisha Francis

MARGAO: Talk about a third innings. At 70, Dilip Lotlikar can be seen bent over, ankle-deep in muck, a solitary reaper harvesting paddy from his two-acre farm in Guirim, near bustling Mapusa. Instead of enjoying a well-deserved retirement after an apprenticeship in jewellery-making, followed by 33 years of service as a veterinary assistant, Lotlikar took up farming, as he simply could not resist the call of the soil.

Hailing from a family of goldsmiths, Dilip says his parents dabbled in farming on the same swathe of land when he was a young child. “They used to grow the ‘kontri’ variety of rice, which did not produce a large yield, but was the tastiest and healthiest kind of rice. We had some cows as well, and my father would fertilise the field organically, with dung and fish meal we would procure from Calangute market,” Dilip fondly reminisces about his childhood. He also helped his goldsmith father repair ornaments in his small traditional business for a few years, before going on to be a career veterinary assistant.

So why the need to get into farming again? “There was no need,” laughs Dilip, “But a strong desire not to let my land stay fallow.” Dilip however got much more than he bargained for, this harvest season. Farming in Guirim is highly monsoon-dependent as most of the fields here do not have an irrigation source. However, luckily for Dilip, a leaking pipeline from the Tillari Irrigation Project that passes through the area keeps his soil damp throughout the summer, enabling him to harvest a second crop, and daring to grow paddy this year. “When it was time to harvest, the Agriculture Department did not have any harvesters for rent, as all of them were sent to Sawantwadi. The rice was ripe and ready, and we were at our wit’s end,” says Dilip. The entire family- Dilip’s wife Rajini, a retired nurse, his young son and his veterinary surgeon daughter- stayed up to chase peacocks and pigeons away, while they tried to find a harvester, or at least farmhands. With no options left, the four Lotlikars picked up sickles, and began to harvest the paddy themselves, with Dilip sometimes working late into the day.  A few days later, labourers arrived from Maharashtra, and the family managed to save their crop on time.