No matter what educational qualifications these couples have, one thing common among them is the love for working together in a smart and effective way towards an organic way of life. Coming from different backgrounds, farms in Goa are getting a modern twist as more young blood is getting actively involved in improving yield taking traditional agriculture to a different stage.
In Hasapur, Pernem, Chaitanya Malik and Sawani Shetye Malik, run Dr Malik’s Farm along with Dr Bhiva Malik, associate professor in the Chemistry Department at PES College, who retired just yesterday, October 31. While Chaitanya was still in his final year of engineering at Goa Engineering College, Ponda, he had set his eyes on farming and started the paperwork and research about the terrain of the land. He used his ancestral land in Haspur and started small in 2014 by growing a small patch of land with English vegetables like lettuce, iceberg and broccoli in a polyhouse. He also brought in three Gir cows from Gujarat and over the years, the number of cows has now increased to 30.
Chaitanya’s wife, Sawani Shetye Malik is an archaeologist, who shares the same passion as her husband. They share their responsibilities wonderfully. “This is a first generation farm and it is two acres of land which is divided by the village road. We have used one side for the cowshed and the other side is a valley which is used for growing different fruit bearing trees and vegetable plants. Dr Bhiva has done his PhD in organic chemistry and it is his dream to return to farming which encouraged Chaitanya to develop this ancestral land. He even made the effort to live with farmers in Gujarat and Maharastra to understand the upkeep and requirements of the Gir cows and different plantation techniques. He has added his own innovations to traditional farming,” says Sawani.
The Gir cows produce desi milk which is non pasteurized, packaged and sold doo-to-door right from Pernem to Old Goa. “We started selling the variety of A2 milk in 2016, which has no preservatives and the brand name is also A2 milk. The shed is also a modern shed with an automatic water system. The troughs are automatically refilled to the level based on gravity. We wanted the animals also to be comfortable with the people who are visiting the farm,” adds Sawani.
Besides the cows, the farm also has a vertical garden with vegetables like bottle gourd (Konkan duddi), ivy gourd (tendli), bitter gourd (karela), ridge gourd (gosalle) and cucumbers. Seasonal vegetables which will be grown from this month include spinach, chillies, lady fingers, radishes and red spinach (tambdi bhaji). They have recently added fruit bearing trees like jamun, mangoes, avocados, jackfruit and pineapples. “Farming is a risk based business. It depends on the climate and there is no certainty as bisons, peacocks or monkey can destroy the crops. It can bring in sustainable income if it is made educative and enjoyable. People living in the cities love to bring their children to show how plants are grown. There is a natural spring in the property where the water collects into a big pool of fresh water. We have made the place where any family can enjoy and learn from,” says Sawani.
Gautam Kamat, a progressive farmer of Agas-Khola village of Canacona, adopted 1500 square metres of land where he used to grow the G-4 and Nisha varieties of chilies, in his garden using plastic mulching which is a new technique in agriculture farming. After his Class 12, he did a course in Horticulture and has been actively involved in growing vegetables, paddy, coconut, arecanut and cashew. Along with his wife, Pradnya, a graduate in Arts, they now focus on Sonia orchids, which they supply all over Goa as well as other states of India.
Gautam was awarded Krishi Bhushan Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for his efforts in farming. “The orchid farm is 3500 sq mtrs polyhouse and we sell the flowers to different places in India. The first orchid plants for the farm arrived on our wedding day in 2017 which made it even more special for us. Before venturing into orchid farming, Gautam visited different plantations in Pune. Orchids need special care and routine pesticides and fertilizers. We had to undergo a tremendous loss during the pandemic as so many flowers were wasted. We couldn’t transport the flowers and there were no functions also in Goa. There were many orchid farms in Canacona itself which shut down because of the losses,” says Pradnya, who is often spotted by her husband’s side, packaging the orchids for transportation.
Another agriculture awardee duo for this year to receive the Krishi Ratna award is Vandit along with wife Priyanka Naik of Mollem. With Rajendra, Vandit’s father by their side, they run RasRaj Farms in Ponda. Though the land has been under cultivation for the past ten years, it was for the last two years, since the wedding of Vandit and Priyanka, that the 2000 sq mtrs farm was further developed into a cowshed, an apiary bee farm, a fruit and vegetable museum. Both graduates in agriculture science from Don Bosco College of Agriculture, Sulcorna, Vandit is also the president of the Beekeeping Society of Goa. Their farm produces 80 kgs of honey for five boxes in a year. The farm is named after Vandit’s parents Rajendra and Rasita as Rasraj Goa Farms.
With in-depth knowledge of the soil and plants, they both have been making strides in agriculture surrounded by vegetables, coconut, areca nut, bananas, they have now moved on to fruits like rambuttan, pomellos, guavas and chickoos. “The proper utilization of the cow dung for vermicomposting provides an additional income to the farm besides reducing the pest problem. The RasRaj Bio-enriched Vermicompost, is superior to other competing brands because it is not just the earthworm castings but also contains beneficial microorganisms which prevent soil-borne diseases, solubilize soil minerals and also act as an excellent soil conditioner,” says Priyanka, about the unique formula they created for vermicompost which is available at their store in Patto, Panjim.
While they both are living on the farm, they share the work load by alternating between marketing, managing labour and adding inputs to their work system. The husband and wife duo have also submitted two separate research papers on ‘Panchagavya’, which is a decoction made by using three direct cow products cow dung, cow urine, cow milk and two derivatives which are curds and desi ghee, has been modified for agricultural purposes by adding other ingredients such as coconut water and bananas.
“We want to educate more people especially students through the different initiatives at the farm. In the last two months, we had over 20 schools from all over Goa visiting the farm. We are also planning to expand with farm stay cottages which should be ready by December. This region is close to the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary, that the influence of the flora and fauna can be seen through the honey production. The colour of honey changes according to the biodiversity. We have also created two formulas based on the Goan soil for mango and coconut trees which ideally should be used during the month of August to October for best results,”
says Priyanka.
It is quite encouraging to see youngsters take on the out of the box methods to introduce new ideas to the age old tradition of farming and bringing so many more factors and branches of production, that can be a learning experience for people of all walks of life.