SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2024
GISELLE REGINA FERNANDES
Siolim: Aakshay fell in love with the land, having worked in the fields with his father from a young age. When they were kids, Aakshay and his sister Bindiya would follow their father Pramod to tend to the 35 jersey cows they owned. The kids were involved in milking the cows, feeding them, and even cleaning the stables. They would collect the cow dung and cow urine in waste baskets, and walk two kilometres with them, to fertilise the field. Messy as these jobs were, the kids would promptly return home, have a quick shower and then head off to school in Monte Guirim. After school, it was lunch at home with the parents before the entire family would again head to work in the fields, where they would plant, nurture and harvest crops. In the early days, the family didn’t make enough to pay daily labourer’s wages, so it was all hands on deck to cultivate the one-acre field together and make ends meet. Watching their dedication and hard work, their neighbours leased the family a field of four more acres for them to cultivate. Slowly but surely, the family started to earn a little bit of extra revenue and shared part of the produce with the owners of the land.
Despite completing his education and getting a Diploma in Agriculture, Aakshay found it difficult to find a job. But instead of idling his life away, Aakshay decided to go back to what he knew, but was also keen on exploring some new avenues. He purchased yellow watermelon seeds online and planted them, excited to grow this exotic looking fruit.
He was the only youth in Sangolda to grow and market this rare golden watermelon variety. Unfortunately, in the early days people were vary of this odd-looking melon, so he faced difficulty in selling the produce. Undeterred, Aakshay decided to try different markets and drove his produce to Panjim, Porvorim, Calangute and Taleigao, even selling them alongside the highways to attract customers.
His efforts paid off and customers often stopped by, curious to try this exotic yellow watermelon. Spurred on by this success, Aakshay dabbled in other produce like broccoli, okra (bhindi), bitter gourd, bottle gourd (calabash) and local chillies, always supported by his sister and fellow farming enthusiast Bindiya. “Besides all our agricultural produce, we also prepare organic concoctions like Jiva Amrut and Panchya Gavya using cow urine and dung, which are full of nutrients for fertilising the fields,” says Bindiya. Since then, Aakshay and his father have purchased three tractors and cultivated around 100 acres of land for farmers in Sangolda, Porvorim, Guirim and Saligao.
When Aakshay tried getting a job as tractor driver with the Agriculture Department a few years ago, he was turned down. “It was probably given to someone with political connections, and I had none,” Aakshay says. But he says he has no regrets, because the people in Sangolda who have worked with Aakshay, vouch for him, saying that he’s one of the best tractor drivers around and that he ploughs the fields very well.
The biggest difficulty for Aakshay was procuring water for his fields. Despite having the Tillari irrigation pipeline passing through their field, there was not a drop of water that they could use. Aakshay took it upon himself to source water from his own well amongst various other sources and managed to collect about 4,000 litres every day from different places, so that his crops would survive.
Now in his mid-twenties, Aakshay is used to working hard, and he enjoys experimenting with a wide variety of produce. “Goa is now becoming completely dependent on neighbouring States for their fruits and vegetables. Gone are the days that everything was sourced locally, and farm to table was the norm,” he says. He fears that if there’s another pandemic where the borders are closed, this dependency on other states will bring Goa to a standstill.
He rues the fact that every day, more and more agricultural land is being converted by landfilling, and that construction and concrete structures are taking over what once were rich fertile fields. “Those blessed to receive agricultural land from their ancestors, should cultivate them and save these lands to ensure a better future for the generations to come,” Aakshay says earnestly.
He urges the government to stop this conversion of agricultural land to other commercial properties. “The government should encourage youth to cultivate the land by providing subsidies so that the agricultural industry becomes profitable, and Goa becomes more self-sustained at the same time,” he says. Akshay owes much of his success to the help that is rendered by Mapusa Zao Sampatti Dargalkar.
