The monsoon rains are nigh and it is time to think of plants.
For the last three years, GenNext, under the banner of the Agricos Alumni Association (AAA), has been associated with events like the Home Garden Competition, Plant Utsav and the Konkan Fruit Fest of the Botanical Society of Goa (BSG).
These, in turn, have been associated with the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP), the Directorate of Agriculture and ICAR-CCARI for almost two decades now.
The student volunteers of yesterday, including Liza Pinheiro, Estella Pires, Priyanka V Naik, Shweta Gaonkar and Dhannika Dias are the leaders of these events now.
Two years ago, together with the young mayor of Panjim, Rohit Monserrate, they planted fruit tree grafts along the promenade of the Dayanand Bandodkar Road opposite INOX.
The trees are growing and will yield fruit for passers-by in the coming years.
THE MULBERRY BUSH
One of the very first songs we learn in school is Here we go round the mulberry bush.
I was reminded of this song when my wife and I landed at Kinallada, or Princess Island, in the Bosphorus Straits, between the Asian and European sides of the city of Istanbul in Turkey.
At one end of the parking lot, at the jetty, there were children going round a tree. When we looked at it closely, we discovered that they were indeed going round a mulberry bush, and plucking fresh ripe mulberries to eat.
Earlier, we had seen oranges on roadside trees in the town of Efes that we know by the Biblical name of Ephesus.
Turkey has a number of fruit trees planted on the roadsides just as we have coconut palms or seedling mango trees in Goa, and other states have tamarind trees. We need to have more of these instead of just shade and flowering trees.
Turkey has a number of fruit trees planted on the roadsides just as we have coconut palms or seedling mango trees in Goa, and other states have tamarind trees. We need to have more of these instead of just shade and flowering trees.
Mulberry (genus Morus) grows in several parts of India, including Goa. The bushes and trees grow easily from stem cuttings, branches or even poles one to three metres long.
Stem cuttings are generally planted to raise leafy bushes for leaves on which to feed silkworms. I have used branches and poles, both, at home and on worksites, to produce instant trees.
The mulberries in Turkey were bigger than the ones we have in Goa, but what we have in the State are good enough to eat, and grew here long before the Portuguese came to Goa.
One can also make juice, smoothies, jams, preserves and wine from mulberries. Ripe mulberries are food for different kinds of birds that frequent our home in Mapusa. My granddaughter, Abigail, also loves mulberries.
So, we wake up at dawn to pick some of the ripe mulberries before the birds devour them all.
Mulberries ripen every day over a period of a month or more, twice or even thrice a year.
Fruits like guavas, chickoos, hog plums, jagomas, star fruit, many kinds of cherries, mulberries and all kinds of citrus fruits like limes and lemons can be grown in pots.
Not everyone has the luxury of owning land to plant trees at home. Fruits like guavas, chickoos, hog plums, jagomas, star fruit, many kinds of cherries, mulberries and all kinds of citrus fruits like limes and lemons can be grown in pots.
In August last year, we at the BSG and AAA, partnered with the SFX School, Siolim. Together, all of us work as one T.E.A.M. – for Together Everyone Achieves More!
The same is the case with the planting of trees now as a part of World Environment Day on June 5, and later the Vanamahotsav, the ‘Forest Festival’.
Some schools are already involving their students in such activities. Others, too, can join the effort to make Goa greener.
(The author is the former Chairman of the GCCI Agriculture Committee, CEO of Planter's Choice Pvt Ltd, Additional Director of OFAI and Garden Superintendent of Goa University, and has edited 18 books for Goa & the Konkan)