Margao: To improve the livelihoods of forest dwellers, the tribal welfare department plans to explore ways to bring wild vegetables to urban dining tables, including publishing recipe books, opening city retail outlets, and identifying varieties suitable for cultivation in urban areas.Tribal welfare minister Ramesh Tawadkar was speaking to the media on Wednesday, where he said the fourth edition of the Ran Bhaji festival will be held in Margao from Aug 8.“The first three editions of the Ran Bhaji festival were held in Canacona. However, the rural inhabitants are well conversant with the nutritional and medicinal values of the forest vegetables, unlike those staying in urban areas,” said Tawadkar. “So to make the city dwellers familiar with the forest vegetables, we have organised the fourth edition of the festival in Margao, ” he said.Tawadkar said there are over 40 types of forest vegetables found in Goa, and the department has requested the horticulture department to procure them from tribal and forest-dwelling communities.“This way, while city dwellers will be able to relish fresh forest produce, the forest dweller and the rural farmer will also be able to make a living,” he said.The minister added that the department was considering setting up a retail outlet in a city on a trial basis to sell wild vegetables, backed by adequate publicity. “We are also planning to publish a book of recipes of these wild vegetables. The idea is to make the forest dweller prosperous.”He said the department may set up a retail outlet in Margao for seasonal vegetables sold by tribal villagers, subject to availability of space.
