One
of the much anticipated annual festivals in Goa is the three-day
Konkan Fruit Festival which is
in its 12th year. Organised by the
Botanical Society of Goa in collaboration with the Corporation of the
City of Panjim and partnering with the Goa Tourism Development
Corporation (GTDC), for the first time, the festival will be held
from April 22 to 24, 2016 at the Campal promenade, Panjim.
Every
year, the festival offers a varied array of locally grown fruits from
different parts of Goa,
which leaves the audience amazed. This year’s theme is ‘Lesser
Known Fruit’ which will focus fruits
such as the Rose Apple and berries
of all types (Charam, Bheddsam,
Churna,
Kanttam, Kaneram, Mulberry,
etc) besides the more popular fruits of Goa like mango,
kokum and jackfruit.
“The
festival is usually held in May but this year, we intentionally got
the festival organised
earlier so we could feature these fruits which are usually out
of season by the month of May. I
had never tasted
Charam before,
and was very happy to eat this
fruit. They will be available for tasting at the festival as we have
asked local vendors from the interiors of Goa to be part of the
festival,” says Miguel
Braganza, Secretary, Botanical Society of Goa.
Over
the years, the festival has become very popular and it has been
catching the attention of various organisations from other parts of
the country. The University of Horticultural Sciences
(Bagalkot),
the DBS Konkan Krishi Vidyapeet
(Dapoli),
the University of Agricultural Sciences
(Dharwar and Bengaluru),
the ICAR-CCARI
(Ela-Goa),
the Directorate of Agriculture and other organisations will
participate in this festival.
With
the objective to learn about, discover and taste the unique fruits
varieties, the festival will be grander this year. “This year, the
trained student volunteers of the newly established Don Bosco College
of Agriculture, Sulcorna-Quepem will be part of the festival and will
be guiding the viewers. We had conducted
a survey of the trees
in Panjim and a book on the study of birds and trees by Syngenta
company will be released with posters and feedback forms. We have
around 5,000
tall grown trees with us and we are hoping to plant them around
Panjim city itself. At the festival, we will ask the residents
of Panjim about
which trees – fruit or flower
bearing – would
they like
planted along
their streets,
leading up to their homes,” says Miguel.
Though
access to the festival
is free for all, one
can support the festival by buying
a coupon. “We have been
requesting donation fees from the attendees
since 2013 but it has not caught
on. With nearly 40,000 people visiting the festival, the community
can help promote the festival,” adds Miguel.
Besides
the 26 stalls and various
competitions
being held, there will be
educational workshops, discussions, demonstrations
and even live music to make the visit even more memorable. Daniel
D’Souza will explain
the art of making bonsai followed
by the Friday Balcao
discussion on ‘To
be In Goa Today……and Tomorrow?’
with Alexyz, Goa’s
renowned cartoonist on April 22,
2016 from 5pm onwards. On April 23, 2016, Thai
artist Taeng Orn Silva will share
the secrets of Thai fruit carving
from 5:30pm
onwards,
followed by the performance by National
Street Performers Association.
