CANACONA: It’s this time of the year in the State when most Goans indulge in drinking urrak. But the nationwide lockdown to fight COVID-19 has forced the authorities to enforce a ban on movement and sale of liquor in Goa. With this prevailing scenario, urrak - the favourite drink of Goans remains in lockdown mode with both the producers and consumers hoping to get curfew lifted by mid-April.
The best way to drink urrak is with lime cordial or lemonade, a splash of soda and lots of ice.
Thanks to the raw material cashew apple which is grown abundantly on the hilly slopes across Goa.
Canacona has huge estates of cashew plantations mainly on the highlands owned by locals and Forest Department.
The Forest Department-owned plantations are auctioned just after the flowering begins and the highest bidder gets the right over the cashew apple and the seeds as well.
As cashew trees just grow wild without the use of inorganic fertilizers, almost 100 percent of the cashew produce both nuts and the fruit drink are organic by default and command a premium price in the market.
Following the Geographical Indication (GI) and heritage tag, cashew feni has become a sought after brew amongst the domestic and foreign tourists who visit Goa each year.
There are hundreds of families in Canacona who work in cashew plantations tirelessly labouring all day to gather the fruits, which are later crushed to extract juice.
The juice after fermentation is distilled following traditional methods to extract urrak with a strength ranging from 14 to 16 grao while double distillate ranges from 20 to 24 grao.
The traditional methods of extracting the cashew brew has remained the same.
Urrak and feni are distilled and packed in plastic cans but due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the farmers are not in a position to sell their produce.
The cashew nuts stores and dealers have downed their shutters following orders from the authorities and on account of this the rate has come down drastically, complain cashew farmers from Canacona.
The cashew distillers are faced with another problem of limited storage capacity as well. All these years, they used to produce urrak and feni and rush them to the market.
But now, the halt in the supply chain they have limited cans and can neither purchase new drums with markets being closed.
Herald spoke to a few such farmers, who appeared clueless and said they did not foresee the lockdown outcome. However, with the prevailing situation, it appears to be a daunting task for the farmers, who say they will continue to feel the lockdown effect if the government fails to come to their rescue.
"We don't blame anyone. The government has to come out with some relief for us by keeping the cashew nut agencies open by allowing us to sell our stock of urrak and feni," appealed a distressed farmer.