During the lockdown due to the Covid19 pandemic, home
deliveries have been a huge help. We are grateful to the doctors, nurses,
police and others who are stepping out so that we can stay safe. We are also
realising the true worth of the farmer who grows our food.
Goa has been noticing a coordinated effort to connect farm
to home by consumers buying straight from the farmer. Interestingly, this
practice is from the old days but then home was in the neighbourhood of a farm.
Now it is necessary to bridge the gap between farmer and the buyer.
Over the last few years, Avertino Miranda and his team uses
social media to sell organic brown rice and other local yield from the field.
Proactive villagers of Saligao started local weekly markets to promote the
small producers. Youth are helping farmers sell with the use of apps and
technology.
The absence of middlemen ensures a win-win situation for
both the farmer and the consumer. However for confirmed sustainability for the
farmer, it is necessary for the people to buy from the farmer. So often, so
many of us are focused only on what’s convenient for us. We must see the larger
picture!
Eventually, our sentiment of gratitude must lead to a
commitment to help the farmer sustain! We must choose to buy from the farmer
and ensure farming remains viable. We must help save farmlands from being
devoured in the name of development. We must be the protective armour of the
farmer!
Food security comes from farmer
May our support be their armour!
~ Pravin K Sabnis
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