Miguel Braganza
Parra was famous for watermelons long before the ‘Madani’ road became a popular haunt of the Instagram-able ‘reel’ life tourists. The youth there even celebrated ‘Melon Nite’ at harvest time. When Darshana Pednekar from Araddi, Parra interacted with the Prime Minister of India on behalf of the farmers of Goa, she spoke how the locally grown watermelons have changed her economic status. She had built her own house from the money she earned growing watermelons organically, and selling them to tourists and locals alike. My friend and classmate from school, Andrew D’Souza from Birmottem, Bastora, has been instrumental in promoting Augusta variety of watermelon to revive the cultivation in Parra village as a CSR initiative.
Watermelon (Citrillus Lanatus), is a native of tropical South Africa. However, watermelons are favourite fruits in South-East Asia, and now the red fleshed watermelons are becoming increasingly popular in India. Watermelons with gold-flesh are popular in South-East Asia, especially in Malaysia and Singapore. They were grown in Goa during 2012 but had bombed in the market. Tastes and attitudes change over a period of time, and hopefully the golden watermelons are also catching up. The discoloured patch, where the watermelon rested on the ground, should be creamy or yellow but not white. Watermelons, like oranges and apples, do not ripen after harvest. The white patch indicates that it was harvested before ripening and is unlikely to be sweet.
This fruit can withstand drought but not flooding. Sandy banks of rivers with receding flow after the monsoons are used for planting watermelons. The sandy soils of Parra and Benaulim are good for watermelons. Stem splitting is due to fluctuation in soil moisture. Mulching helps to reduce this. A few years ago, the farmers of Verna and adjoining areas have successfully overcome the rind worm problem through prophylactic application of microbial formulations like Beauvaria bassiana (Baba or BioPower) and Metarhyzium anisopliae that control the insects better than the chemicals that have to be sprayed repeatedly. The Government of Goa is also promoting natural farming and it has helped to bring in the “achche din” for the farmers and consumers
The fusarium induced fungal wilt can be controlled by trichoderma viride as seed treatment or with the compost at planting. Trichoderma is available under various trade names (like Niprot, Nisarga, BioCure F, etc) in both, powder and liquid formulations. The watermelon is susceptible to blossom-end fruit rot due to calcium deficiency. This can be corrected by applying chuna or lime powder to provide calcium. It also makes the soil less acidic, increases nutrient uptake, and production of fruit-bearing female flowers while suppressing acidophilic fungi. A small clump of lime powder or rock phosphate can give many benefits to the crop.
The IARI-ICAR variety, Sugar Baby. (3-5 kg in weight) and Hybrid Augusta (5-8 kg) are two popular dark green skinned and red fleshed varieties similar to the ones traditionally grown in Parra. The light and dark green longitudinal striped, mildews tolerant Arka Manik (5-6 kg) and its seedless triploid hybrid, Arka Madhura (4-6 kg) from IIHR of ICAR are possible alternatives.
