Carmelito Andrade highlights the need for balancing modern and traditional farming practices in his two new books
DIANA FERNANDES
Carmelito Andrade has been passionate about agriculture since his childhood days.
“Since the age of eight, I used to accompany my grandmother to the paddy fields, where she taught me the basics of sowing and transplanting. At the time, I was still too small to build the earth bunds (meros), but those early experiences rooted my interest in farming my ancestral paddy fields,” he recalls.
And it is this love for the soil that has led the Nuvem-based assistant professor (visiting faculty) in the Department of Electronics and Telecommunication, Goa College of Engineering, Farmagudi, Ponda, to come out with two books on this theme.
‘Goan Short Stories- Paddy Farming’ is a collection of 10 short stories that have narratised the traditional farming practices stressing on aspects like manual labour, managing of sluice gates to control water, the planting of paddy by hand and the back breaking work that went into ensuring a good harvest. It also sheds light on the modern struggles of lack of sufficient manual labour, the changing weather and water conditions and the machines that are slowly taking over the fields.
“I spent years chatting with local farmers in Salcette Taluka. Most of our talks touched on their frustrations, particularly with delayed or inaccessible government subsidies. There were also some good old stories shared. Those raw conversations provided the spark for the short story book,” says Andrade who is also a vocational instructor for the drone technician trade at Cacora Government ITI as a guest lecturer. The book took around four months from writing, rewriting, and editing. “I also used to run some of these stories with farmers just as a means of validation. Most of the events in the book are true, but all the names and places used in the book are fictitious,” he says.
Besides this book, Andrade has also come out with ‘Let’s Colour- Goan Paddy Farming’ a colouring book for kids that aims to inspire the younger generation to return to farming.
“I spent almost a year creating the colouring book. Progress depended on the seasons, as I needed specific photos that could only be taken during actual farming activities,” he shares, while expressing his gratitude to J. Santan Rodrigues from Curtorim and Albert Piniero from Loutolim for writing the forward for the new books.
The inspiration for the books comes from his belief that the state has a lot of scope in the field provided the right balance is achieved between traditional methods and modern mechanised farming. “While innovative farmers exist across the state, many lack the time to record and pass on their expertise. Meaningful progress requires open dialogue with the farmers who work the land, rather than top-down policies crafted in air-conditioned rooms,” he believes.
Additionally, he says, subsidies should be processed and dispatched within a week—rather than taking six months or longer—to give farmers essential cash-flow support.
Andrade also believes that mechanisation can help solve the key issue of lack of manual labour today. “Historically, Goa had far more land under paddy cultivation, but many fields have since been left fallow as the current generation favours desk jobs over demanding farm labour,”
he says. While post-COVID-19, there has been a noticeable shift with Goans recognised the value of growing their own paddy and local vegetables, skyrocketing labour costs and worker shortages still pose a huge challenge, he states. “Mechanisation offers the only viable solution to this crisis. We can already observe its impact—mechanised transplanting being the prime example. In fact, through the efforts of Fr. George Quadros and his transplanting equipment, numerous abandoned paddy fields in Salcete are coming back to life,” he points out.
The writer, who has previously co-authored several books including on Goan recipes and the healing wonders of Goa’s medicinal plants, plans to write more books on agriculture going forward.
“The idea is to have a series of Goan Short Stories and Lets Colour books,” he says. “In fact, the next topic that I will cover is the khazans. I am hoping to finish this by end of the year.”
