Christanand Pednekar
QUEPEM: Many villages in the Quepem taluka are on a ‘gold’ revolution of sorts. Ably supported by the Quepem zonal agriculture office, a gamut of villagers – from young agriculture graduates to housewives – have been hard at work cultivating marigolds.
The initiative, which has been taken up in areas like Barcem, Morpirla and Kajur, has been successful not only in making fallow lands productive, but also in creating self-employment opportunities and a lucrative source of income.
It is mainly the youth who have taken to cultivating marigolds in the Barcem panchayat area. “I began growing marigolds two years ago and was thrilled that it worked for me,” says Pratap Velip, an agriculture graduate. “I was keen to do more, so last year, I cultivated the flower crop across a 1,000-square metre tract of land. The profits it generated took me by surprise and spurred me to cultivate three times the area this year,” he says.
Zonal agriculture officer Sandesh Desai says 55,000 marigold seedlings have been distributed to 52 farmers in the Quepem zone, and that five hectares of land is presently being used to grow the flower.
Generally bright yellow or orange and much sought after in Goa, marigolds grow well in almost any type of soil. Some varieties are even known to have good tolerance to drought. Quepem’s budding horticulturists second this because many of them have found that the crop is able to withstand hot weather with a minimum amount of watering. This works especially well in the taluka’s hinterlands where municipal water supply is scarce.
But it is during the monsoon months when cultivation is taken up on a larger scale. The wet weather coincides with a period of unemployment for most rural women, who then turn to growing marigolds to generate income during the lean period. Balli resident Jyotsna Phaldesai is one of them.
“I run a mill during the dry months where I sell chilli powder, flour and oil. Business reduces during the monsoon, due to which I used to cultivate okra as an alternative source of income,” she says. “But now, I have switched to growing marigolds mostly due to the immense support I received from the local agriculture office, which not only provided me with free marigold seeds but also gave me a demo on how to cultivate them. Together with my partner, I grew the flowers on a large area of land and generated a good profit,” she adds.
In the village of Gokulde, youngster Sandesh Gaokar is reaping a whole lot of benefits from his marigold patch. A graduate in agriculture, not only does he make decent profits, but also says that growing the flower has helped maintain the health of his plantation.
“To avoid weeds smothering the marigold plants during the monsoon, I cover the ground with plastic mulch and make holes in it so that the crops grow unobstructed and the weeds are suppressed,” he says.
