Agassaim: Where people have left, but the green veggies haven’t

If you’ve zoomed through the Agassaim to Goa Velha bypass road without stopping to purchase some sweet potatoes or brinjals or leafy vegetables, being sold on the roadside, then you’ve definitely missed out on something good. The veggies are fresh, tasty and as organic as they can be, grown in the rabi season, after the paddy harvest. 

The village, on the north bank of the River Zuari, is known for its sweet potatoes and brinjals, and also for the lady fingers, green chilies, green, red leafy vegetables that are grown in the fields on either side of the highway bypass. The sweet potatoes and brinjals are especially sought in markets in both the districts of Goa.

Agassaim today is seeing a lot of migration of its people abroad leaving few people in the village to assist the elders in the fields. Not only is the number of the younger generation decreasing, education and white collar jobs has ensured that they do not want to take up and carry forward the traditional occupations of their ancestors.

Yet, this has not seen a decline in the cultivation of sweet potatoes, brinjals and other leafy vegetables. Some of those who have migrated abroad and still have land holdings in Goa have leased out their fields to the residents of the village for the cultivation of the veggies.

The village was once famous for the abundant plantation and sale of leafy vegetables, besides paddy. Vast fields that stretched across the village enabled the villagers to earn from the rich soil. To the villagers stepping down into the fields early in the morning and toiling hard under the scorching sun till late evening was not a task to be cringed from.

The Agassaim variety of the brinjal is a preferred vegetable for cultivation in the village. It is different from the normal brinjals and is preferred for its higher amount of flesh, fewer seeds and bigger size. It is, then the most common tropical vegetable grown in the fields of the village and spotted in the markets and roadside. The Agassaim variety that is about 300 gm in weight has soft and puffy flesh. While they may differ in size and space, they are mostly rounded and have a deep purple skin. The immature fruits are used in curries and varieties of dishes are prepared out of the brinjal.

Gulabi Naik from Sulabhat is one such person who has been cultivating her employer’s field for the past eight years and making a living from the sale of these products that she, along with her husband, sells alongside the Agassaim bypass road.

“Earnings from the sale of these products help sustain my family. I still continue serving my employer at her residence, but that service alone will not suffice. I am grateful to my employer for allowing me to cultivate her field for vegetables and paddy,” Naik said. “More than the paddy, it is the sale of vegetables that is guaranteed. Paddy cultivation can get ruined due to heavy showers, but vegetable cultivation is ascertained for brisk business,” she added.

“Any vegetable cultivation is possible in our fields, but besides hard work, labour is a major hurdle. Expenses incurred for machinery, ploughing and manure discourage many people to cultivate their fields. Hence vast areas of land remain barren,” Naik said.

Another villager selling his produce on the same stretch of road, Avito Correira, from Malwara ward has been carrying on the job of his ancestors by cultivating the fields annually. “There are around four to five fields which are cultivated on a large scale and the activity begins in the months of November and December,” he said.

“Around five to six labourers are employed in collecting around 20 to 25 sacks of sweet potatoes from each field and after keeping aside about four sacks for sale in the village, the surplus goes to markets in Mapusa and Margao, where the demand is always more than the supply,” Correira added.

It is not just those born and bred in the village that continue with the vegetable cultivation. Ana Rita Mendes, who is the daughter-in-law of the village, has been assisting her in-laws in their work in the field over the past 10 years. “Only those with deep love for the soil will continue with this activity. Ill health has discouraged many to give up this occupation. God bless those who still continue with this activity with much zeal and enthusiasm,” Mendes said.

The locals feel that the migrants have empowered the villagers today and deprived them of their daily bread. “The traditional occupations will survive only if action is taken to keep it alive and locals are encouraged to sell their products without any restrictions,” they suggest.