Team Herald
canacona: It’s not common for an engineer to leave behind a flourishing career and pursue his zeal and passion as a farmer, but that’s exactly what Prabhat Naik Ambolcar from Canacona did.
A diploma holder in mechanical engineering, Prabhat’s work in the farm, has come as blessing of many who are in need of vegetables in this lockdown period.
“Despite all the odds and hardships I have embraced agriculture and ventured into sustainable living and self employment to make a difference in my life,” said Prabhat.
He added, “I am trying to implement the knowledge I gained from my elders, my education, and have succeeded in implementing the ideas into my agricultural activities. Apart from the ancestral agricultural land which is solely for commercial purposes I have a kitchen garden which supplies vegetables to the kitchen of our extended family”.
He further stated that they don’t employ outside labourers in their kitchen garden. It’s all all purely organic and he has stopped using chemical fertilizers.
With the involvement of his 3 brothers, their wives and children, they grow an array of vegetables like chillies, lady fingers, tomatoes, leafy vegetables like palak, amaranthus, radish, knol rabi, cow peas, bitter gourd and bottle gourd.
“The produce from this 1,500 sq mt kitchen garden is for self consumption and also goes out to relatives, friends and well wishers”, he said.
“And since the vegetable supply has been affected to some extent after the lockdown came into force last month ,many people come to buy our vegetables but we don’t charge them at this hour of need”, he added.
“Goa has fertile land and rains in abundance, look at the vast planes of barren land while coming from Margao to Canacona, if we grow vegetables in these unutilised fields and plots, we will have surplus for exports”, he emphasised.
The two- time winner for the highest supply of vegetables to the Goa Horticulture Department is presently embracing his free time to get ready for another season.
