Goemkarponn Desk
CANACONA: With the appearance of much sought-after Muskmelon (Chibot/Mogem), the king of seasonal hill-grown fruits, the traditional satellite markets with all types of locally hill-grown vegetables have dotted along the NH66 (Highway) road from Padi (Quepem) to Gulem(Canacona).
Infact, with these satellite markets coming alive only during the mid-or-end of August month, the number of roadside sellers of hilly grown veggies has almost doubled up from the past few years decorating the road with a serpentine line of platforms of Make-shift Gaddas erected at different locations right from Bendurdem (Balli), Paddi, Barcem, either sides of Karmalghat, until Gulem areas of Shristhal village in Canacona.
The hill growers display all types of the seasonal vegetables cultivated by them on hillocks and forests during the monsoon rains, which begins to flower beginning the end of July month, and started to give give produce beginning August as the summer Sun blooms.
A Sunny weather is what it gives better and fast yields of the seasonal fruits flourishing it even more amidst hot Sun.
The king of Seasonal veggies Muskmelons, Cucumbers, different types of Gourds including Bottle gourds, Ash gourds, Ritz-gourd, besides Long-beans, many types of Root vegetables, Cantaloupe, ladyfinger, Pumpkins, local bananas, and Various types of Leafy Vegetables grown during the monsoon.
All these veggies and wild fruits are cultivate and raised without use of any fertilizers but most with the only use of organic manure and that too during seedlings and plantation time.
A small sized Muskmelon is quoted for 130, a larger one commands anything to around Rs.300, while 3-4 pieces of small sized Cucumbers, Guards, are sold at Rs.100/-. Even as it is believed that people at-least once in a year one should consume a muskmelon, seasonal veggies are known to add diversity to the local diet and also contribute significantly to the nutritional intake in our diet.
At times, several motorists makes halt to buy this local produce with great interest.
The sellers mostly belong to ST community are the traditional hill-growers and lives in the interior areas, brings their produce with head-loads at the highway to sell their produce to the motorists early every morning and returns back home with the unsold items late evening after the sun goes down.
