Miguel Braganza
It was an absolute delight to participate in the ‘Ran Bhaji Mahotsav 2026’, which was truly a celebration of the monsoon vegetables collected from the forests and also its domesticated versions in Goa. Organised by the Balraam Charitable Trust in association with the Goa State Biodiversity Board (GSBB), Goa Department of Tribal Welfare and the Goa Directorate of Agriculture, it once again proved the power of working as a T.E.A.M., for Together Everyone Achieves More. The presence of Goa Forest Department, Goa Forest Development Corporation (GFDC) and Goa College of Agriculture (GCA), Ela Farm, would have added more value but this was great by itself. The chairperson of GFDC and faculty of GCA-Ela were present along with students. We hope to have the agriculture degree students participate at the 34th annual ‘Festival of Plants & Flowers’ at SFX School from August 21 to 23, alongside projects by students of high school and higher secondary schools from across Goa.
Former District Agriculture Officer-North Goa, Rena Menezes, and Business Diva 2022 awardee, Liza Pinheiro, joined me in conducting a workshop in vegetable cultivation at the scenic Xavier Retreat House, Baga-Arpora. Unlike the COVID-19 era, when we conducted online webinars with Q&A, this workshop was with actual demonstration of the techniques on the ground. Post-COVID-19, the interest in vegetable cultivation has not waned. In fact, there is an increased interest and many schools have vegetable plots for the students to learn. The best schools for this are C.C. Spring Valley High School, Pilerne-Porvorim; Fr. Agnel’s High School at Pilar, King’s School, near Margao, and a number of government high schools from Pernem to Canacona that introduced agriculture as a course even before NEP 2020. There are many more schools in the list now that agriculture graduates are teaching skills to students under NSQF.
The St. Theresa’s High School, Jua, is reviving the cultivation of the island’s USP: ladyfingers with the local ‘Sath Xiramcho Bhenddo’ (SXB) now having a Geographical Indication. The school marks its 80th anniversary today with an exhibition ‘From Roots to Horizons’ today and an inter-school competition tomorrow, on August 12, the Punyatithi of Goa’s first chief minister and founder of the first degree college in Goa in June, 1962, within six months of liberation of Goa by a newly independent India.
On India’s Independence Day, August 15, most parishes in Goa celebrate the staple crop of Goa, with the blessing of the emerging rice earheads that indicate the health of the crop that has seen a revival in the last ten years! Only Tiswadi is stuck in the colonial past, with its villages celebrating ‘Konnsanchem Fest’ on August 22 or 24.
Composting of farm and household wastes helps to generate manures and reduce dependence on fertilisers. The residents of Goa can easily segregate household wastes and compost the biodegradable part to reduce the load on village panchayats and municipalities. If one uses a microbial accelerator like ‘Panchagavya’ or effective micro-organisms (E.M.), the process is entirely free from bad odour. To control soil-borne fungi that cause tomato, chili and brinjal plants to suddenly die at flowering time another microbial Trichoderma viride can be mixed with the compost. Some of the vermicomposts are marketed with Trichoderma added. It is easily available in Goa under different trade names like ‘Nisarg’, ‘Nip rot’ , etc and also with the ICAR-CCARI at Old Goa.
