http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Goan-superfoods-Waiting-to-cash-green-dividends/articleshow/46480322.cms
Untold generations of hardworking Goan farmers laboured to create soaring coconut groves and vast hillside cashew plantations long before anyone had heard of "superfoods". But that very new term and classification is behind an extraordinary boom in global interest in cashews and coconuts, and potentially other traditional crops that flourish in India's smallest state. This year's cashew harvest is already earning the highest prices ever seen, up 100% in just a few years, and the seemingly limitless international craze for coconut has driven prices more than 300% higher in the same short span. The Confederation of Indian Industries confirms the organic food market is growing an incredible 400% per year nationally. It all adds up to a green bonanza just waiting to be tapped by Goa's agricultural sector. Fuelling all this increased demand is the worldwide interest in power-packed superfoods, nutrient-rich agricultural produce that scientists have determined are especially beneficial for health and wellbeing. Most Goan grandmothers will not be surprised that this category has turned out to include the same exact agricultural products that have been prized and carefully tended by their forebears in Goa for generations. High on the list is cashew, now widely marketed as "nature's vitamin pill". Every nut has "viable amounts" of folate, Vitamin K, manganese, magnesium, phosphorous, copper, and iron. Variously, these help in preventing damaged blood vessels, brain instability, osteoporosis, heart problems, renal disease, and obesity. Cashews have also been recognized as one of the top anti-cancer superfoods, because they contain proanthocyanidins, a class of flavanols that starves tumors and prevents cancer cells from dividing. Scientific studies have shown that eating just a few cashews every day markedly reduces the risk of cancer. Even compared with potent cashews, the list of benefits that accrue from consuming coconut stands out as extraordinary. The oil is loaded with copper, zinc, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and selenium, as well as the best kinds of saturated fats. Studies have proven that coconut helps you lose weight, strengthen the immune system, fight infections, even stimulate the growth of new brain cells. When applied on the skin, coconut oil can ease a variety of skin problems including eczema and psoriasis. Coconut water is full of potassium, electrolytes, and Vitamin C, making it much better than any other drink for replenishing your body after exercise. That long list of benefits is the reason why consumers are charging en masse for coconut, all over the world. In the USA alone, the market for packaged coconut water skyrocketed from zero to $400 million within the past decade. The drink sells for as much as $6 (more than Rs350) per litre. In the UK, at least 100 million pounds is spent on coconut water every year. Even those eye-popping numbers are likely to be bested very soon in Japan (along with Taiwan and Hong Kong) where the coco-craze hit late but hard, with dozens of new brands striking gold and flying off the shelves. That is not all, because Goa's age-old agricultural bounty also contains other superfoods, just waiting to go global. On the verge already is the staple kokum, which has been found to be full of complex vitamins like niacin, thiamin and folic acid. Studies have repeatedly proven that this Konkan favourite is fat-burning, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and anti-carcinogenic. Its major active ingredient—garcinol—is both anti-allergic and neuroprotective (helps brain health). More scientific analysis has confirmed the basis of ayurveda's age-old reliance on kokum to treat ulcers, dysentery and other gastric and digestive problems. Yet another outstanding candidate for global attention is red amaranth, Goa's ubiquitous and much-loved tambdi bhaji, which contains very high amounts of iron, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and vitamins A and C. When used as a grain, its protein-rich seeds have three times more fiber and five times more iron than wheat. Amaranth is a rare "complete food", including strong doses of all nine essential amino acids. This makes it an effective agent against cancer and heart disease. All these valuable crops already grow in over tens of thousands of hectares in Goa. But there has been no bonanza yet, because there is a yawning chasm between the state and the most lucrative markets in Indian cities and abroad. Unlike states like Kerala and Gujarat, and countries like Thailand and Vietnam, Goa's government has never been farsighted enough to invest in the facilities required to process and package its produce to international standards. So the state's farmers lose out. This current administration talks a lot about infrastructure, but agriculture is one area never mentioned. That glaring oversight should be corrected right away. -- #2, Second Floor, Navelkar Trade Centre, Panjim, Goa Cellphone 9326140754 Office (0832) 242 0785
