Konkan Fruit Fest set to roll on 10 May; Prizes for Home Gardens also on Sunday, 13 May at KFF 2012.
Miguel Braganza
Botanical Society of Goa
Registered under No. 39/GOA/90 dated 04 May, 1990
Panaji-Goa
www.konkanfruitfest.com bsg...@yahoogroups.com
BSG/KFF/031 09 May, 2012
PRESS RELEASE
The seventh Konkan Fruit Fest at the Promenade along D.B. Bandodkar Marg, between Kala Academy and Children’s Park at Campal, Panaji-Goa from 11 to 13 May, 2012 is facilitated by the Botanical Society of Goa and Corporation of the City of Panaji [CCP], Panaji-Goa, together with the Dr. B. S. Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeet, Dapoli, ICAR-Goa, Directorate of Agriculture and many other Government agencies, NGOs, companies and individuals. This is a unique summer fruit festival held in May since 2003.
This year the Konkan Fruit Fest will begin with the receipt of the fresh fruits [four fruits of mango, chickoo, cashew, etc, single fruit of papaya, pineapple, jack, etc and at least a dozen berries per entry] on Thursday 10 May from 10 A.M. up to 3 P.M. in the afternoon. For assistance, please contact the Zonal Agriculture Officer of your taluka. There are no entry fees and competition is open to all. Register at the venue [next to Forest Nursery gate near Kala Academy open air auditorium]. The registration is coordinated by Dr. K.G. Hiremath, Immediate Past President of BSG, along with Mr. Omar de Souza of Dhempe College of Arts & Science, Miramar.
The fresh fruit entries will be judged by Dr. A. R. Desai, Horticulture Scientist of ICAR-Goa; Mr. Sanjeev Kadkade, Head of Department at the Institute of Hotel Management-Goa; and Ms. Nina Figueiredo, Nutritionist & Diet Consultant, Manipal Hospital, Dona Paula. The judging will be coordinated by Ms. Ana Dias e Camara of Goa State Horticulture Corporation Ltd., Panaji and member of the BSG Executive Committee 2011-14. Three prizes of Rs. 1000, Rs.600/- and Rs.400/- will be awarded to the best three entries for each category of fruits with sufficient entries. The prizes are partly sponsored by Mr. Ulysses Menezes of Goa-World.com
The prize distribution function of KFF is on Sunday, 13 May at 5.00 P.M. The cash prizes of Rs.10,000/- each to Ms. Kishori Sinari of Chicalim-Vasco for the best vegetable garden on terrace and to Ms. Piedade Fernandes of Corjuem-Aldona for the best Kitchen Garden on the ground will be given at the same function. The prizes are fully sponsored by “Green Essentials” of Taleigao, the green enterprise of Yogita Mehra and Karan Manral, to promote organic vegetable cultivation and consumption at the home level.
Dr. Priya Savoikar of Chicalim-Dabolim will pick the first prize of Rs. 5,000/- for the Home Garden competition, while Mr. Cedric D’Souza of Altinho-Mapusa will claim the second prize of Rs.3,000/- and Mr. Xavier Vas of Ambirna-Socorro will share the third prize of Rs.2,000/- with Ms. Meena Prabhu of Gogol-Margao. Ms. Shailaja Sharma of Silvanagar-Ponda has bagged the prize for the best ornamental terrace garden, but the money will have to wait till her return from USA. We hope to enhance the prize money next year for the Home Garden Competition held annually since 1996 and re-introduce the category for institutional gardens to promote better environments in schools, colleges and work places.
On Friday, 11 May, entries will be received for processed fruit products [juices, nectars, squashes, wines, jams, preserves, pickle, chutney, tarts, cake, etc] from 10 A.M. onwards and for fruit dishes [fruit soufflé, fruit salad, etc] up to 3.00 P.M. The entries will be judged by Mr. Alphonso Pereira, Principal of Fr. Agnelo’s IHM-Verna; Mr. Sanjeev Kadkade and Mr. Moses Fernandes of IHMCT&AN-Goa, Porvorim. The judging will be coordinated by Ms. Rena Menezes e Fernandes of the Directorate of Agriculture and Treasurer of BSG.
Enthusiastic competitors in the on-the-spot competitions like the unique fruit eating competitions [papaya, banana, watermelon, etc] and fruit fancy dress add life and zest to the event. There will be on-the-spot fruit eating competitions with watermelon eating at 5.00 P.M. on Friday and papaya eating at 5.00 p.m. on Saturday. On Saturday, there will be fruit carving competition at 4.00 P.M. This will be coordinated by Mr. Anand Jadhav, the former Treasurer of BSG along with Ms. Rena Fernandes, the present Treasurer.
The CCP is fully involved as a “Festival Partner” of KFF 2012 as it was in the initial years. There will be a launch the NoMoZo coordinated by Arch. Tallulah D’Silva under the banner of “Aamchi Panaji”. Photography competition is an added attraction this year and is coordinated by Mr. Sanjeev Sardessai.
The Western Ghats Kokum Foundation [WGKF] is actively involved in the Konkan Fruit Fest since 2005 and will release its book “Resource Book on Kokum, Garcinia indica” at the hands of Dr. Kisan Lawande, Vice Chancellor of Dr. B. S. Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeet, Dapoli, on Saturday 12 May at the GCCI hall, near Azad Maidan, Panaji. The book is Copyleft and will be available free online after its release.
The Goa Consumer Action Network [GOACAN] has been a part of the KFF since 2011 and will leader the drive to educate both the vendors and the consumers on legal requirements of packaged commodities as well as consumer’s rights to know what they ate being sold.
The ICAR- Goa Research Centre & KVK-Old Goa, the Goa Directorate of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, and Bangalore as well as the University of Horticultural Sciences Bagalkot together with the Indian Institute for Horticultural Research [IIHR]-Hessarghatta, Bangalore, have participated in the KFF earlier and are expected to be participating this year.
Fruit plant nurserymen, fruit processors and fruit vendors like Ms. Shivani Arolkar of Arolkar Nursery & Fruit Products, Matt-Kudal, and Mr. Mandar Prabhudesai of Vikas Nursery have been an integral part of the KFF right from the very start and will be there again. Fr. Inacio Almeida sfx of Pilar/Bhironda, Mr. Shrihari Subrai Naik Kurade of Cuncolim [both feleicitated by BSG at KFF 2011] and Mr. Ashok Dande of Dande’s at Taleigao, have been pillars of support for the KFF and will be there this year. Dr. John Carmo Rodrigues of Chinchinim, Ms. Lumina Lobo from Siolim, Santan Mascarenhas of Parra, Maria do Ceu Carvalho of Margao and Desmond Nazereth of Desmondji have added the right spirit to the event. The Other India Book Store provides the necessary reading material. The office of the Controller of Legal Metrology and the Directorate of Food & Drug Administration have provided learning experiences in the implementation of the law instead of using only punitive methods to "teach" the producers and traders a lesson.
The organic promotion body, ECOCERT from Aurangabad, Organic Garden Pvt. Ltd the Syamantak 'School-without-walls' of Damapur-Vengurla, Mahamaya Nursery & Agri. Farm of Sal-Bicholim, Earthoholics from Mumbai, National Innovation Foundation-India, Ahmedabad and many exhibitors/participants are joining the festival this year. Recent graduates from IHMCT&AN-Goa will help the visitors sample the flavours of different fruits at a reasonable price and De Souza Biotech's Frugurt is back at KFF with fruit flavoured yogourt
This year the event is ably led by Dr. Ajit Shirodkar [Chairman of Western Ghats Kokum Foundation ] as Chairman KFF 2012 and has Dr. Nitin Sawant as the Organizing Secretary-KFF 2012.
For details contact:
Dr. K.G. Hiremath 09423835182 or Miguel Braganza 0982282676, look up
www.konkanfruitfest.com or just Google search.
Miguel Braganza
Secretary
Miguel A. Braganza, House No.5/4-A
Ph +91-9822982676; 91-832-2255139
Horticulture.Facilitation.Networking
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